' 


J^mi^*^^ 


v     ) 


LIBRAEY 

*       OP   THE 

Theological   Seminary, 

PRINCETON,    N.  J. 

'  BKHrW)  Mfil8.  04 S)  1821  , 

,  O'Leary,  Arthur,  1729-1802 
Miscellaneous  tracts 

A      DONATION 


Heceived 


-'.V      -     .  :>       ^ 


V 


MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS, 


■f/)         BY  THE  j      .       ) 


CONTAINING 


1.  A  Defence  of  the  Divinity  of  Christ 
and  the  Immortality  of  the  Soul:  in  an- 
swer to  the  Author  of  a  work,  lately  pub- 
lished in  Cork,  entitled,  "  Thoughts  on 
Nature  and  Religion."  Revised  and  cor- 
rected. 

2.  Loyalty  Asserted  :  or,  a  Vindication 
of  the  Oath  of  Allegiance  ;  with  an  im- 
partial Enquiry  into  the  Pope's  Temporal 
Power,  and  the  present  Claims  of  the 
Stuarts  to  the  English  Throne :  proving 
that  both  are  equally  groundless. 

3.  An  Address  to  the  Common  People 


of  Ireland,  on  occasion  of  an  apprehended 
Invasion  by  the  French  and  Spaniards,  in 
July,  1779,  when  the  united  fleets  of 
Bourbons  appeared  in  the  Channel. 

4.  Remarks  on  a  Letter  written  by  Mr. 
Wesley,  and  a  Defence  of  the  Protestant 
Aseociations. 

5.  Rejoinder  to  Mr.  Wesley's  Reply  to 
the  above  remarks. 

6  Essay  on  Toleration:  tending  to 
prove  that  a  man's  speculative  opinion 
ought  not  to  deprive  him  of  the  Rights  of 
Civil  Society. 


— s»£«s»— 


IN  WHICH  ARE  INTRODUCED, 


THE  REV.  JOHN  WESLEY'S  LETTER, 


AND    THE 


DEFENCE  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  ASSOCIATIONS. 

THE  AUTHOR'S  LETTERS  TO  THE  BISHOP  OF  CLOYNE, 

&c.  &c.  &c. 


— «©a 


NEW-YORK: 

PRINTED    BY   SAMUEL    WALKER, 

FOR  D.  SULLIVAN,  148,  CHERRY-STREET. 

1821. 


TO  THE 


DIGNITARIES  AND  BRETHREN 


OF  THE  ILLUSTRIOUS  ORDER  OF 


•      # 


Rev.  Fathers,  and  illustrious  Brethren, 

THE  purport  of  the  work  which  1  have  the  honour  to 
dedicate  to  your  order,  is  to  cement  the  bands  of  society ; 
to  secure  the  safety  of  our  country,  by  union  and  mutual 
confidence ;  to  render  the  subject's  allegiance  firm,  and  at 
the  same  time  reasonable,  by  establishing  it  on  its  proper 
grounds;  to  dispel  the  mists  of  long  reigning  prejudice; 
after  disarming  infidelity,  which  strikes  at  the  foundation  of 
religion,  and  the  dignity  of  our  nature,  to  induce  the  Chris- 
tians of  every  denomination  to  lay  aside  the  destructive 
weapons  which  frenzy  has  so  often  put  into  their  hands ;  and, 
under  their  peculiar  modes  of  worship,  to  inspire  them  with 
that  benevolence  and  charity  enforced  by  the  first  principles 
of  the  Law  of  Nature,  and  confirmed  by  the  sacred  oracles 
which  they  all  revere. 

In  my  fugitive  pieces,  to  which  the  circumstances  of  the 
times  have  given  rise,  you  discovered  the  sincerity  of  my 

*  A  society  of  nobles  and  gentlemen,  composed  of  the  greatest  orators  and  writers 
m  Ireland;  who,  unsolicited,  have  done  the  author  the  honour  of  adopting  him  as  on« 
of  their  members. 


IV  THE    DEDICATION. 

designs,  in  attempting  to  diffuse  to  the  community  at  large, 
the  influence  of  benignity.  My  feeble  efforts  have  attracted 
your  attention,  and  procuied  me  the  honour  of  your  esteem. 
With  regard  to  the  rights  of  society,  and  protection  due  to 
the  man  who  does  not  forfeit  them  by  his  misconduct,  the 
learned,  the  virtuous,  the  liberal-minded  of  all  denominations, 
make  no  distinction;  but,  with  every  respect  due  to  religion, 
leave  fanaticism,  the  noxious  vermin  that  nestles  in  its  wool, 
to  prey  upon  the  ulcerated  heads  of  the  bigots.  Hence, 
neither  my  character  of  a  Catholic  Clergyman,  which,  in 
these  kingdoms,  the  prepossession  of  ignorance  has  rendered 
so  odious,  nor  the  discountenance  of  the  laws,  which  doom 
me  to  transportation,  with  the  common  malefactor,  nor  the 
disagreeable  circumstances  of  a  profession  still  exposed  to 
the  wanton  lash  of  every  religious  persecutor,  were  deemed 
a  sufficient  plea  for  exclusion  from  a  society  composed  of 
so  many  great  and  shining  men. 

Robertson's  religion  has  proved  no  obstacle  to  his  admis- 
sion among  the  Spanish  academicians.  You,  my  brethren, 
have  set  the  brilliant  example  of  philanthropy  in  this  king- 
dom ;  and  soared  far  above  the  sphere  of  contracted  minds. 
Happy  for  the  world  had  the  gentle  voice  of  Nature  been 
always  listened  to,  and  his  religion  forgotten  in  the  man ! 

The  calamities,  of  which  a  contrary  conduct  has  been 
productive,  are  slightly  glanced  at  in  my  treatise  on  tolera- 
tion. In  the  two  neighbouring  kingdoms,  the  scenes  which 
have  been  exhibited  last  year,  are  melancholy  proofs,  that 
a  tolerating  spirit,  the  fair  offspring  of  candour  and  benevo- 
lence, confers  happiness  on  individuals,  and  gives  nations  a 
bloom  and  vigour  which  intolerance  blasts  and  enervates. 


THE    DEDICATION. 


In  consequence  of  the  happy  change  in  the  dispositions  of  the 
people,  Ireland  has  seen  her  peaceful  natives  employed  in 
the  useful  labours  of  life ;  her  citizens,  confident  in  each 
other,  improving  trade  and  commerce,  under  a  variety  of 
difficulties;  her  judges  respected  on  their  tribunals;  and 
the  pleasing  scenes  of  harmony  and  union  spread  through 
every  province.  Such  the  result  of  benevolence  !  Such  the 
fruits  of  toleration !  Such  was  our  situation,  when  in  Great 
Britain  nothing  could  be  seen  but  the  course  of  public 
justice  suspended,  and  martial  law  proclaimed  ;  the  law  and 
the  legislature  trampled  in  their  awful  sanctuary ;  the  torn 
canonicals  of  bishops,  the  lacerated  robes  of  temporal 
peers,  the  streets  ensanguined  with  the  streaming  blood  of 
deluded  victims;  sumptuous  edifices  changed  into  blazing 
piles ;  the  conflagration  of  Rome  renewed  by  the  torch  of 
religious  frenzy;  the  houses  of  inoffensive  citizens  chalked 
out  for  destruction;  a  city  given  up  to  plunder;  assassins 
and  malefactors  let  loose  from  their  chains,  and  invited, 
by  the  hollow  voice  of  fanaticism,  to  share  the  spoils;  a 
king  on  the  verge  of  destruction ;  a  kingdom  on  the  eve 
of  being  plunged  into  the  calamities  of  civil  war;  the  sword 
taking  the  place  of  the  robe,  and  dictating  to  the  violaters 
of  the  law;  and  the  stern  hand  of  justice  succeeding,  in 
its  turn,  to  the  sword,  and  sweeping  from  the  face  of  the 
earth,  the  gleanings  of  military  execution.  Such  the 
poisonous  fruits  of  misguided  zeal,  and  religious  intolerance ! 
The  seeds  of  such  disasters  have  been  sown  in  distant 
times,  when  barbarity,  or  the  competition  of  princes,  con- 
tending for  the  throne,  contributed  to  divide  the  people; 
and,  from  a  mistaken  policy,  sovereigns  themselves,  in  op- 
position to  the  maxims  of  legislation  and  wisdom,  thought 
it  more  eligible  to  become  heads  of  the  half,  than  the  fathers 
of  all  their  subjects. 


?1  THE    DEDICATION. 

Such  measures  weakened  their  arms  abroad,  and  will 
ever  prove  destructive  at  home.  In  every  plain  the 
English  generals  met  with  their  fellow  subjects,  disputing 
the  laurel,  under  the  banners  of  kings  who  gave  them 
encouragement. 

The  Catholic  and  Protestant  powers  on  the  Continent, 
hj  adopting  a  different  plan,  and  uniting  their  subjects  of 
every  denomination  in  the  ties  of  one  common  interest, 
strengthened  their  respective  states  against  the  encroach- 
ments of  each  other,  and  prevented  their  dominions  from 
being  changed  a  second  time,  into  extensive  fields  of  battle, 
covered  with  bodies,  fallen  by  the  sword  of  religious  mad- 
ness ;  or  desolate  wastes  similar  to  those  from  whence  re- 
straints and  distress  have  banished  the  human  species :  the 
present  Emperor's  mother  restored  her  Christian  subjects 
of  every  denomination,  to  the  freedom  and  rights  of  citizens. 
The  son  has  opened  his  calm  bosom  to  the  Jew,  and  is 
become  the  father  of  the  man  who  blasphemes  the  Saviour 
whom  his  Sovereign  adores.  Ireland !  Ireland,  where  the 
Protestant  gentleman  gives  alms  to  the  pilgrim  without 
enquiring  into  his  religion,  and  where  the  Catholic  peasant 
presses  his  distressed  fellow  creature  to  take  share  of  a 
handful  of  vegetables,  scarce  sufficient  to  support  his  own 
wretched  existence:  Ireland,  whose  generous  sons  have 
more  compassion  and  feelings  for  the  stranger,  than  their 
neighbours  for  the  brothers  of  their  blood — Ireland,  where 
some  strokes  given  by  a  peer  of  the  realm,  to  a  poor 
inoffensive  priest  in  the  last  stage  of  a  decay,  which  in  a 
few  days  rescued  him  from  the  miseries  of  this  life,  "  the 
"  law's  delay,  and  the  proud  man's  contumely." — Ireland, 
where  this  scene  raised  such  indignation  in  the  generous 
breast  of  every  Protestant,   that  a  lawyer,*  who  to  the 

*  Counsellor  Cuna». 


THE    DEDICATION.  VII 

powers  of  the  orator  joins  the  courage  of  the  hero,  without 
fee  or  reward,  pleaded  for  obscurity  against  eminence,  for 
weakness  against  power,  and,  after  asserting  the*  rights  of 
humanity  at  the  bar,  went  to  encounter  death  in  the  field 
for  a  helpless  client,  in  the  last  struggles  of  the  agony. 
Ireland,  so  famous  for  the  generous  sentiments  of  her  in- 
habitants, is  the  devoted  spot,  where  out  of  a  million  and 
half  of  subjects,  not  one  can  become  a  coal  measurer,  a 
common  soldier,  an  excise-man,  nor  have  more  than  two 
apprentices  at  a  time  !  Their  dissenting  brethren,  so  humane 
in  their  private  characters,  and  the  professors  of  whose 
religion  are  so  tolerant  in  Holland  and  Switzerland,  consider 
their  Catholic  neighbours  as  so  many  slaves  ready  to  cut 
their  throats,  at  the  first  signal  given  by  their  royal  masters, 
without  whose  concurrence  the  chain  could  never  have 
been  fastened  to  their  bodies.  The  kings  of  England,  on 
the  other  hand,  whose  treasury  would  be  better  supplied 
by  opulent  subjects  than  by  a  million  of  naked  and  famished 
objects,  are  obliged,  at  an  enormous  expense,  to  hira 
foreign  mercenaries  of  every  religion,  with  their  respective 
chaplains,  whilst  their  dauntless  subject,  are  forced  to  throw 
themselves  into  the  arms  of  those  sovereigns  who  pay  them 
for  fighting,  and  permit  them  to  pray  as  they  think  fit. 

Thus  government  is  distressed  on  one  hand,  and  the  king- 
dom is  deprived  of  its  strength  and  internal  resources  on 
the  other.  The  Catholics,  between  their  fellow  subjects 
and  the  throne,  are  like  the  forlorn  hope  between  two 
armies.  They  are  doomed  to  civil  destruction  between 
both. 

Europe  will  soon  bear  a  different  aspect:  and  the  ex- 
amples set  by  those  princes,  who,  for  the  aggrandizement 


V1H  THE    DEDICATION. 


of  their  states,  are  doing  away  all  religious  distinctions,  arc 
so  many  warnings  to  copy  after  them.  The  Gauls,  the 
Romans,  the  Carthaginians,  thought  themselves  once  in- 
Tincihle.  Their  divisions  precipitated  their  downfal.  No 
oracle  has  as  yet  declared  that  foreign  candidates  for  glory 
and  conquest  will  be  deterred  from  attempting  to  become 
our  masters.  The  power  to  resist  becomes  greater  in  pro- 
portion to  the  number  of  the  subjects ;  in  proportion  to  the 
stake  they  have  to  defend,  their  attachment  to  their 
country,  their  attachment  to  each  other.  A  small  state, 
rich,  populous,  and  well  united,  is  preferable  to  a  large 
but  divided  kingdom.  Let  religious  distinctions,  then, 
be  laid  aside.  It  is  equal  to  the  Israelite,  released 
from  bondage,  whether  his  temple  be  built  by  Solomon  or 
Cyrus ;  provided  he  has  liberty  to  pray  unmolested,  and  to 
sleep  under  his  vine  and  fig-tree.  Diseases,  sickness,  death, 
which  mows  down  the  young  and  old,  emigrations,  the 
waste  of  war,  countries,  now  unknown,  which  will  be  here- 
after discovered,  colonies  that  ever  and  always  depopulate 
the  parent  state,  rising  empires,  and  princes  inviting 
strangers  to  settle  in  their  dominions,  will  leave  land 
enough  in  Ireland,  to  the  end  of  time,  for  ten  times  the 
number  of  its  inhabitants. 

The  world  is  in  a  continual  change.  New  monarchs 
sway  the  sceptre.  New  ministers  direct  their  councils. 
New  characters  are  daily  mounting  the  stage  of  life,  to  be- 
come the  object  of  applause,  derision,  or  censure  of  man- 
kind. Every  new  generation  is  a  new  world,  raised  on  the 
ruins  of  the  former,  aiming  at  their  present  advantages,  with- 
out any  retrospect  to  past  transactions,  in  which  they  are  no 
ways  concerned.  We  frequently  change  our  bodies.  Reason  on 
its  travels  from  age  to  age,  acquires  a  new  mode  of  thinking. 


X  THE    DEDICATION.  IX 

In  a  word,  every  thing  is  liable  to  change ;  and  it  is  high 
time  to  chancre  from  division  to  union. 

Let  not  religion,  the  sacred  name  of  religion,  which  even 
in  the  face  of  an  enemy  discovers  a  brother,  be  any  longer 
a  wall  of  separation  to  keep  us  asunder  :  though  it  has  been 
often  perverted  to  the  worst  of  purposes,  yet  it  is  easy  to 
reconcile  it  with  every  social  blessing. 

In  the  course  of  this  work,  I  intend  to  make  it  a  citizen 
of  the  world,  instead  of  confining  it  to  one  kingdom  or 
province.  I  am  not  an  able,  neither  am  I  a  partial  advo- 
cate. I  plead  for  the  Protestant  in  France,  and  for  the 
Jew  in  Lisbon,  as  well  as  for  the  Catholic  in  Ireland.  In 
future  ages  should  fanaticism  attempt  to  re-establish  her 
destructive  empire,  and  crying  out  with  the  frantic  queen, 
exoriare  oliquis  ex  ossibus  nostris,  summon  the  furies  to  spring 
from  her  embers,  which  I  attempt  to  disperse  and  deprive 
of  their  noxious  heat,  let  this  votive  offering,  hung  up  in  the 
temple  of  the  order  of  the  Monks  of  St.  Patrick,  announce 
to  posterity,  that  in  1781,  the  liberal-minded  of  all  deno- 
minations in  Ireland,  were  reconciled,  maugre  the  odious 
distinctions  which  the  laws  uphold,  and  that  those  very 
laws,  enacted  before  we  were  born,  but  not  the  dis- 
positions of  the  people,  are  the  only  sources  of  our  mis- 
fortunes. 

Whatever  tends  to  promote  the  public  good,  is  a  tribute 
due  from  an  adopted  brother,  to  great  and  illustrious 
characters,  whose  refined  feelings  can  only  be  equalled 
by  the  culture  of  their  minds:  who  have  transplanted  to 
the  Irish  nursery  the  flowers  of  Rome  and  Athens:  who, 
in  their  writings  and  speeches,  have  displayed  to  Europe 

B 

4 


X  THE    DEDICATION. 

the  scene  of  eloquence,  diversified  with  the  fire  of  De- 
mosthenes and  the  majesty  of  Tully,  and  wrested  their 
thunderbolts  from  those  orators,  in  order  to  assert  what 
they  deemed  the  rights  of  mankind,  and  to  crush  the 
false  divinities  that  should  attempt  to  erect  their  altars  on 
their  ruins. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be, 

Rev.  Fathers,  and 

Illustrious  Brethren, 

Your  affectionate  Brother, 

ARTHUR  O'LEARY. 

Bubliu,  July  15,  17*1. 


DEFENCE 


OF    THE 


aHt^ssrsVY  <&w 


OR,  REMARKS  ON  A  WORK,  ENTITLED 

THOUGHTS  ON  NJTURE  AND  RELIGION. 


LETTER    I. 


to  the  author.* 
Sir, 

YOUR  long  expected  performance  has  at  length  made  its 
-appearance.  If  the  work  tended  to  promote  the  happiness 
of  society;  to  animate  our  hopes;  tp  subdue  our  passions ;  to 
instruct  man  in  the  happy  science  of  purifying  the  polluted  re- 
cesses of  a  vitiated  heart;  to  confirm  him  in  his  exalted  notion 
of  the  dignity  of  his  nature,  and  thereby  to  inspire  him  with 
sentiments  averse  to  whatever  may  debase  the  excellence  of 
his  origin ;  the  public  would  be  indebted  to  you ;  your  name 
would  be  recorded  amongst  the  assertors  of  morality  and  re- 
ligion ;  and  I  myself,  though  bred  up  in  a  different  persuasion 
from  yours,  would  be  the  first  to  offer  my  incense  at  the  shrine 
of  merit.  But  the  tendency  of  your  performance  is  to  deny 
the  divinity  of  Christ,  and  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  In 
denying  the  first,  you  sap  the  foundations  of  religion;  you 
cut  off,  at  one  blow,  the  merit  of  our  faith,  the  comfort  of  our 
hope,  and  the  motives  of  our  charity.  In  denying  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul,  you  degrade  human  nature,  and  con- 
found man  with  the  vile  and  perishable  insect.  In  denying 
both,  you  overturn  the  whole  system  of  religion,  whether  na- 
tural or  revealed :  and  in  denying  religion,  you  deprive  the 

*  A  Scotch  physician,  who  styles  himself  Michael  Servetus. 


2  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

poor  of  the  only  comfort  which  supports  them  under  their 
distresses  and  afflictions;  you  wrest  from  the  hands  of  the 
powerful  and  rich,  the  only  bridle  to  their  injustices  and  pas- 
sions ;  and  pluck  from  the  hearts  of  the  guilty,  the  greatest 
check  to  their  crimes ;  I  mean,  this  remorse  of  conscience, 
which  can  never  be  the  result  of  a  handful  of  organized  mat- 
ter; this  interior  monitor  which  makes  us  blush,  in  the  morn- 
ing, at  the  disorders  of  the  foregoing  night !  which  erects  in 
the  breast  of  the  tyrant,  a  tribunal  superior  to  his  power,  and 
whose  importunate  voice  upbraids  a  Cain,  in  the  wilderness, 
with  the  murder  of  his  brother;  and  a  Nero,  in  his  palace, 
with  that  of  his  mother.  Such  are  the  consequences  naturally 
resulting  from  the  principles  laid  down  in  your  writings. 

It  is  no  intention  of  mine  to  fasten  the  odium  of  wilful  in- 
fidelity on  any  person,  who  professes  his  belief  in  the  Scrip- 
tures :  though  I  am  equally  concerned  and  surprised  that  a 
gentleman,  whose  understanding  has  been  enlightened  by  the 
Christian  revelation,  and  enlarged  by  all  the  aids  of  human 
learning,  should  broach  tenets,  which  equally  militate  against 
the  first  principles  of  reason,  and  the  oracles  of  the  Divinity; 
and  which,  if  true,  would  be  of  so  service  to  mankind.  Who- 
ever is  so  unhappy  as  to  work  himself  into  a  conviction,  that 
his  soul  is  no  more  than  a  subtile  vapour,  which  in  death  is 
to  be  breathed  out  into  the  air,  to  mix  confusedly  with  its 
kindred  element,  and  there  to  perish,  would  still  do  well  to 
conceal  his  horrid  belief  with  more  secrecy  than  the  Druids 
concealed  their  mysteries.  In  doing  otherwise,  he  only 
brings  disgrace  on  himself:  for  the  notion  of  religion  is  so 
deeply  impressed  on  our  minds,  that  the  bold  champions  who 
would  fain  destroy  it,  are  considered  by  the  generality  of 
mankind,  as  public  pests,  spreading  disorder  and  mortality 
wherever  they  appear;  and  in  our  feelings  we  discover  the 
delusions  of  a  cheating  philosophy,  which  can  never  intro- 
duce a  religion  more  pure  than  that  of  the  Christians,  nor 
confer  a  more  glorious  privilege  on  man,  than  that  of  an 
immortal  soul.  In  a  word,  if  it  be  a  crime  to  have  no  re- 
ligion, it  is  a  folly  to  boast  of  the  want  of  it. 

Whence,  then,  this  eagerness  to  propagate  systems,  the 
tendency  whereof  is  to  slacken  the  reins  that  curb  the 
irregularity  of  our  appetites,  and  restrain  the  impetuosity  of 
passion  ?  In  our  dogmatizing  philosophers,  it  must  proceed 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  3 

from  the  corruption  of  the  heart,  averse  to  restraint ;  or 
the  vanity  of  the  mind,  which  glories  in  striking  from  the 
common  path,  and  not  thinking  with  the  multitude. 

Your  unspotted  character  justifies  you  from  any  imputa- 
tion of  a  design  to  infect  others  with  the  poison  of  a  licentious 
doctrine.  But  vanity  is  one  of  those  foreign  ingredients, 
blended  by  the  loss  of  original  justice,  into  our  nature.  It 
prefers  glorious  vices  to  obscure  virtues.  It  animates  the 
hero  to  extend  his  conquests,  at  the  expense  of  justice;  and 
stimulates  the  philosopher  to  erect  the  banners  of  error  on 
the  ruins  of  truth  You  seem  to  acknowledge  it,  in  your  en- 
quiries into  the  causes  of  error:  'It  was  vanity  in  philosophers 
*  which  caused  so  many  different  sects  and  systems.'  I  believe 
it,  and  Montaigne  was  of  the  same  opinion.  Immersed  in  an 
ocean  of  disorders,  glorying  in  appearance,  in  an  utter  ex- 
tinction of  remorse,  and  conversant  with  the  doctrine  taught 
in  Epicurus's  garden,  he  acknowledges,  that  4  vanity  induces 
4  free-thinkers  to  affect  more  impiety  than  they  are  really  ca- 
pable of.'  Lucretius,  in  like  manner,  whose  arguments 
against  the  immortality  of  the  soul  are  the  same  with  yours, 
corroborates  your  opinion,  relative  to  the  bias  vanity  gives 
those  soaring  and  philosophical  geniuses,  who  strike  from  the 
trodden  path.  When  in  glowing  numbers  he  enforced  his 
fond  opinion  of  careless  goods  and  material  souls,  as  favour- 
able to  the  calrn^  repose  which  the  voluptuous  bard,  who 
makes  his  invocation  to  Venus,  would  fain  enjoy  without  re- 
morse here,  or  punishment  hereafter,  he  was  well  aware  that 
his  doctrine  clashed  with  the  general  sense  of  mankind.  But 
the  philosophical  poet  consoles  himself,  with  the  flattering 
expectation  of  gratifying  his  vanity  : 

"  'Tis  sweet  to  crop  fresh  flowers,  and  get  a  crown, 
"  For  new  and  rare  iuveutions  of  my  own."* 

In  a  word,  some  men  of  learning  plume  themselves  upon 
the  singularity  of  their  opinions:  and,  however  they  may  dis- 
claim vanity,  as  the  spring  of  their  literary  performances,  yet 
it  is  one  of  those  ingredients  which  gives  a  zest  to  their  com- 
position.  And  if  singularity  and  novelty  of  invention,  be 
stimulatives  to  self-love,  few  authors  of  the  age  are  more 

*  Creech's  Lucretius. 


4  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

bound  to  guard  against  this  dangerous  and  agreeable  poison, 
than    the   author  of  the    4  Thoughts  on  Nature  and  Reli- 


gion? 


To  range  those  singularities  under  their  proper  heads,  is 
almost  impossible :  and  modesty  does  not  permit  to  tran- 
scribe from  your  book  several  passages  of  your  allegori- 
cal commentary,  on  the  second  chapter  of  Genesis.  '  The 
coat  of  skins,'  then,  4  with  which  God  covered  the  man 
and  woman  after  their  fall,'  as  well  as  4  the  fruit  so  pleas- 
ing to  the  eye,  which  the  woman  tasted,'  1  leave  the  doc- 
tor in  full  possession  of.  He  is  a  married  man,  and  skilled 
in  the  anatomy  of  all  parts  of  the  body. 

After  giving  his  readers  the  important  information,  that 
Adam  was  displeased  with  his  wife,  for  inducing  him  to  a 
faux  pas,  which  1  believe  no  married  man,  except  Adam,  (if 
we  believe  the  doctor.)  ever  scrupled ;  he  allegorizes  some 
of  the  rest  of  the  chapter,  in  the  following  manner:  4  God 
4  planted  a  garden  eastward  in  Eden,'  says  the  inspired 
writer,  *  and  there  he  put  the  man  whom  he  had  formed.' 
4  What  is  called  a  garden,'  says  the  doctor,  '  I  take  to  be 
4  the  human  mind.  By  the  river  which  watered  the  garden, 
4  and  afterwards  divided  into  four  branches,  is  meant  inno- 
4  cence,  divided  into  the  four  cardinal  virtues.'  Here  he 
loses  breath:  for  to  allegorize  all  would  be  too  tedious;  and 
doubtless  the  public  have  room  to  regret  the  doctor's 
omission  in  not  continuing  the  allegory  to  the  end  of  the 
chapter. 

He  professes  his  belief  in  the  Scriptures ;  but  has  the 
good  luck  to  elude  every  difficulty  that  falls  in  his  way,  by 
the  assistance  of  metaphors ;  and  thinks  himself  the  more 
authorized  to  take  this  freedom  with  Moses,  as  he  dis- 
covers a  mistake  in  the  Bible.  '  I  will  strike  Egypt,  saith 
4  the  Lord,  from  die  tower  of  Syene  to  the  borders  of 
4  Ethiopia.'*  4  Instead  of  Ethiopia,'  says  the  doctor,  4  it 
4  should  be  Arabia :  for  Syene  was  situated  on  the  borders 
4  of  Ethiopia.' 

Pray,  doctor,  does  a  mistake  in  geography,  on  the  part  of 
the  translators  of  the  Bible,  invalidate  the  Mosaical  account 
of  man's  innocence,  together  with  his  felicity  in  Paradise ; 

*  Ezechiel. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  if 

the  malice  of  the  tempting  spirit,  and  his  appearance  under 
the  form  of  a  serpent ;  the  fall  of  Adam  and  Eve,  fatal  to  all 
their  posterity;  the  first  man  justly  punished  in  his  children, 
and  mankind  cursed  by  God;  the  first  promise  of  redemp- 
tion, and  the  future  victory  of  man  over  the  Devil,  who  had 
undone  them?  Has  not  the  memory  of  those  great  events, 
and  the  fatal  transition  from  original  justice  to  the  corruption 
of  sin,  been  preserved  in  the  golden  and  iron  ages  of  the 
poets,  their  Hesperian  gardens  watched  by  dragons,  and  in 
the  enchantments  and  worship  of  idolatrous  nations,  in  whose 
incantations  and  superstitions,  the  serpent  always  bore,  as  it 
bears  still,  a  principal  part  ?  Allegorize  Moses  as  much  as 
you  please;  he  relates  that  God  promised,  that  'the  woman's 
'  offspring  would  crush  the  serpent's  head.'  This  very  pro- 
mise of  a  Redeemer,  and  man's  victory  through  his  grace,  are 
foretold  in  the  oracles  of  the  Gentiles.  Even  Tacitus,  though 
a  mortal  enemy  to  the  Jews  and  Christians,  acknowledges 
that  it  was  a  constant  tradition  among  the  Oriental  nations, 
that  from  the  Jews  would  spring  a  conqueror,  who  would 
subdue  the  world.  A  translator's  mistake,  as  to  the  name  of 
a  town  or  tower,  is  no  plea  for  scepticism ;  especially  as  there 
are  and  have  been,  several  towns  of  the  same  name,  in  dif- 
ferent places;  which  might  have  been  the  case  with  Sycne ; 
and  cities  which,  in  a  long  succession  of  time,  have  changed 
their  names,  or  borne  different  names  at  the  same  time:  as  is 
the  case  with  Constantinople,  which  the  Turks  call  Stam- 
boul,  and  others  Byzantium. 

But  let  us  suppose  that  the  tower  of  Syene  was  situated  on 
the  same  line,  in  an  opposite  direction,  with  the  frontiers  of 
Ethiopia :  is  there  any  impropriety  in  saying,  '  I  will  strike 
'Egypt  from  the  tower  of  Syene  to  the  borders  of  Ethiopia?' 
Solinus  relates,  that  there  was  a  tower,  called  Syene,  in  lower 
Egypt.  Ethiopia  borders  Egypt  on  the  south.  In  striking 
Egypt,  then  from  the  tower  of  Syene  to  the  borders  of  Ethi- 
opia, it  is  struck  from  north  to  south:  that  is,  from  one  ex- 
tremity to  the  other.  The  doctor,  then,  has  lost  his  time  in 
correcting  the  prophet  Ezechiel's  map,  and  substituting  Ara- 
bia for  Ethiopia.  Yet  this  passage  of  Ezechiel  is  his  chief 
plea  for  allegorizing  Genesis:  with  what  success  let  the 
reader  judge. 

A  warm  fancy,  in  a  paroxysm  of  zeal,  may  indulge  its 


b  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

boundless  excursions  in  the  path  of  allegory,  when  obscure 
passages  and  mystical  expressions  open  a  field  for  interpreta- 
tions and  allusions.  Mead,  Whiston,  Wesley,  and  the  doctor 
himself,  may  discover  the  Pope  in  the  beast  with  ten  horns  ; 
and  Rome  in  the  great  city  built  on  seven  hills.  The  Jewish 
rabbins,  after  obtaining  permission  from  the  prince  of  Orange 
to  build  a  synagogue,  applied  to  their  benefactor  this  famous 
passage  of  Isaiah  :  '  On  that  day  seven  women  will  take  hold 
'of  one  man,'  alluding  to  the  Seven  United  Provinces  that 
had  elected  him  stadtholder:  and  I  myself,  if  I  were  in  hu- 
mour, could,  in  a  long-winded  discourse,  enlarge  upon  the 
seven  sacraments,  or  the  three  theological  and  four  cardinal 
virtues;  and  compare  them  to  the  seven  golden  candlesticks 
mentioned  in  the  revelations  of  St.  John.  But  in  an  historical 
narration,  giving  an  account  of  the  origin  of  the  world  :  of  a 
garden  planted  with  trees,  watered  with  four  rivers ;  with 
their  names ;  the  countries  through  which  they  flow ;  the 
precious  stones,  mines,  and  minerals,  to  be  found  in  those 
countries,  &c. :  the  introduction  of  an  allegory  is  the  sub- 
version of  reason. 

Even  where  allegories  can  be  used  with  any  propriety,  our 
masters  in  rhetoric  lay  down  as  a  rule,  that,  'in  the  chain  of 
4  metaphors  continued  through  the  discourse,  aptness,  resem- 
4  blance,  and  justness  of  allusion,  must  be  strictly  observed.' 
What  justness  of  allusion  is  therebetween  the  human  mind^ 
and  a  garden  planted  eastward  in  Eden,  where  God  put  the 
man  he  had  created?  As  much  as  there  is  in  saying,  God  made 
mail,  and  placed  him  eastward  in  his  mind.  What  analogy  is 
there  between  the  four  rivers  and  the  four  cardinal  virtues  ? 
Between  fortitude  and  Pison,  or  the  Ganges,  with  the  effimi- 
nate  natives  that  inhabit  its  banks  ?  Between  prudence  and  the 
Euphrates  ?  Justice  and  Gihon  or  the  JW/e,  with  its  crocodiles  ? 
Temperance  and  Hiddekel  or  the  Tygris,  which,  as  Moses  re- 
lates, and  as  geography  informs  us,  goeth  towards  the  east  of 
Assyria,  a  country  famous  in  former  days  for  the  intemperance 
of  its  inhabitants  ?  The  four  cardinal  virtues  being  set  afloat 
on  the  four  rivers,  and  the  doctor's  imagination  having  spent 
the  fire  of  his  allegory,  we  are  at  a  loss  what  virtue  to  de- 
scribe by  the  onyx-stone  mentioned  by  Moses  in  the  fol- 
lowing words  :  '  The  name  of  the  first  river  is  Pison  ;  that  is 
4  it  which  compasseth  the  land  of  Havilah,  where  there  is« 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  7 

*  is  gold  :  and  the  gold  of  that  land   is  good  :  and   there  h 

*  bdellium  and  the  onyx-stone.'  By  gold,  doubtless,  he  mur.t 
mean  charity  or  patience.  But  of  the  onyx-stone  there  are 
four  kinds ;  and  we  would  be  obliged  to  our  dog-matizins; 
philosophers  for  describing  their  four  correspondent  virtues. 

Let  them  inform  us,  in  like  manner,  whether  the  bdellium 
mentioned  by  Moses,  be  one  of  the  theological  or  a  branch  of 
the  cardinal  virtues.  For  though  in  dispensatories,  the  bdel- 
lium be  allowed  to  be  a  good  nostrum,  of  an  emollient  and 
discutient  quality;  yet  the  learned,  whether  commentators  of 
Scripture,or  natural  philosophers,  are  no  more  agreed  about 
the  true  nature  of  bdellium,  than  they  are  about  the  manner 
how  it  is  produced:  and  it  is  much  doubted  whether  the  bdel- 
lium of  the  ancients  be  the  same  with  the  modern  kind. 

Thus,  in  the  disputes  about  a  drop  of  gum  resin,  the  na- 
ture and  production  whereof  perplex  the  most  learned,  wo 
discover  the  weakness  of  human  reason.  We  cannot  dissect 
a  fly;  and  we  would  fain  comprehend  the  ways  of  Providence. 
We  would  fain  sound  the  unfathomable  ocean  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  and  arraign  its  mysteries  at  the  tribunal  of  a 
glimmering;  reason  :  when  the  smali  atom  that  swims  on  the 
surface,  baffles  our  severest  scrutiny. 


I  have  the  honour  to  be,  &c. 


ARTHUR  O'LEARY. 


S  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

LETTER   II. 

Sir, 

TO  our  modern  philosophers,  who  set  up  the  proud  idols 
of  their  own  fancies  in  opposition  to  the  oracles  of  the  divi- 
nity, and,  endeavouring  to  discover  absurdities  in  the 
Christian  religion,  fall  into  greater,  we  can,  without  dis- 
claiming our  title  to  good  manners,  apply  what  St.  Ptmi  ap- 
plied to  the  philosophers  of  his  time  :  '  they  became  vain  in 
'  their  imaginations  :  professing  themselves  to  be  wise,,  they 
*  became  fools.'  In  order  to  sap  the  foundations  of  revealed 
religion,  and  to  make  man  the  sport  of  chance,  who  neither 
lost  any  privilege  by  Adam's  fall,  nor  gained  any  thing  by 
Christ's  redemption,  they  endeavour  to  obtrude  Moses  on 
the  public  as  an  allegorical  writer.  Examine  his  character, 
and  acknowledge  their  follv. 

Besides  his  divine  mission,  in  what  historian,  does  truth 
shine  more  conspicuous  ?  He  relates  his  personal  defects,  as 
well  as  the  extraordinary  powers  with  which  the  Lord  in- 
vested him  ;  deduces  a  long  chain  of  patriarchs  from  the  first 
man  down  to  his  days  ;  traces  a  genealogy,  in  which  every 
chief  is  distinguished  by  his  peculiar  character.  In  quitting 
Egypt,  the  nursery  of  fiction,  did  it  comport  with  the  dig- 
nity of  the  legislator  and  commander  of  a  chosen  people,  to 
write  romances  ?  In  the  space  of  five  hundred  years,  from 
Noah's  death  to  Moses'  time,  could  the  fall  of  man  and  his 
expulsion  from  Paradise  be  forgotten  ?  And,  as  he  had 
enemies,  would  not  they  have  charged  him  with  imposture  ? 
Or  was  he  the  only  person  amongst  the  Jews,  who  was  in- 
structed by  his  father  ?  In  a  word,  it  was  out  of  his  power  to 
deceive  the  Jews ;  much  less  was  it  his  inclination  or  interest. 
All,  then,  is  coherent  in  Moses  :  and  to  his  genuine  narra- 
tive we  are  indebted  for  the  knowledge  of  ourselves ;  for, 
without  the  aid  of  revelation,  man  would  ever  be  an  inex- 
plicable mystery. 

In  believing  my  descent  from  a  father  created  in  a  state  of 
perfection,  from  whence  he  fell ;  a  father  on  whose  obedi- 
ence or  disobedience  my  happiness  or  misery  depended ;  I 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  9 

can  account  for  the  corruption  of  my  nature,  and  all  the 
train  of  evils  which  have  descended  to  Adam's  children. 
Without  this  clue  to  direct  me,  1  must  be  for  ever  entangled 
in  a  labyrinth  of  perplexities.  Let  philosophy  glory  in  le- 
velling man  with  the  brute,  and  say  that  there  was  never  any 
difference  in  his  state  ;  that  he  was  always  the  same,  destined 
to  gratify  his  appetites,  and  to  die  ; — I  am  really  persuaded 
that  I  must  renounce  common  sense,  if  I  believe  that  man  is 
now  the  same  that  he  was  in  coming  from  his  Maker's  hands. 
The  opposition  between  our  passions  and  reason  is  too  pal- 
pable, to  believe  that  we  were  created  in  such  an  excess  of 
contradictions.  Reason  dictates  to  be  temperate,  just,  and 
equitable  ;  to  deal  with  others  as  I  would  fain  be  dealt  by  ; 
not  to  infringe  the  order  of  society  ;  to  pity  and  relieve  the 
afflicted :  my  passions,  those  tyrants  so  cruel,  prompt  me  to 
raise  myself  on  the  ruin  of  others ;  to  tread  in  the  flowery 
paths  of  criminal  pleasures ;  and  to  sacrifice  my  enemy  to  my 
resentment.  If  God,  then,  be  the  author  of  reason, — and 
that  it  is  granted  to  man  to  regulate  and  curb  his  inclina- 
tions,— misery  and  corruption  were  not  our  primitive  state. 

Philosophers,  in  a  strain  of  irony,  may  deride  our  Bible 
and  Catechism,  and  laugh  at  our  folly  for  believing  that  an 
apple  could  entail  such  miseries  on  mortals :  but  let  them 
seriously  consider  the  multitude  and  greatness  of  the  evils 
that  oppress  us  ;  and  how  full  of  vanity,  of  illusions,  of  suf- 
ferings, are  the  first  years  of  our  lives;  when  we  are  grown 
up,  how  are  we  seduced  by  error,  weakened  by  pain,  inflamed 

by  lust,  cast  down  by  sorrow,  elated  with  pride  : and  ask 

themselves,  whether  the  cause  of  those  dreadful  evils  be  the 
injustice  of  God  or  the  original  sin  of  man  ? 

The  evidence  of  those  miseries  forced  the  pagan  philoso- 
phers to  say,  that  we  were  born  only  to  suffer  the  punish- 
ments we  had  deserved  for  crimes  committed  in  a  life  before 
this.  They,  doubtless,  were  deceived  as  to  the  origin  and 
cause  of  our  miseries  :  but  still  some  glimmering  of  reason 
did  not  permit  them  to  consider  those  calamities  as  the  na- 
tural state  of  man.  But  religion  reforms  the  error,  and 
points  out,  that  this  heavy  yoke,  which  the  sons  of  Adam  are 
forced  to  bear,  from  the  time  their  bodies  are  taken  from 
their  mothers'  womb,  to  the  day  that  they  are  to  return  to 
the  womb  of  their  common  mother,  the    earth,  would  not 


10  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

have  been  laid  upon  them,  if  they  had  not  deserved  it,  by  the 
guih  they  contract  from  their  origin. 

Hut  religion,  as  far  as  it  includes  mysteries,  you  think 
yourself  at  liberty  to  discard;  because  you  *  cannot  conceive 
'  how  God  could  require  of  man,  a  belief  of  any  thing  which 
'  he  has  not  endowed  him  with  powers  to  conceive.'*  Hence 
you  rtje  ct  the  mystery  of  the  Trinity,  as  an  invention  of  the 
clergy,  borrowed  from  the  poetical  fable  of  the  three  brothers, 
Jupiter,  Neptune,  and  Pluto  ;  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  as  an 
imposition  of  the  clergy  :  and  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  as 
tile  invention  of  scholastic  subtlety. 

You  think  the  religion  of  nature  a  sufficient  guide ;  and 
prefer  Socrates  and  Cato  to  the  clergy  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion,— the  great  Cato  whom  you  applaud  for  his  bon  mot, 
when  he  said,  that  he  was  surprised  how  two  priests  could  meet 
v:'fhout  bursting  out  into  a  Jit  of  laughter.  Do  not  confide  too 
much,  my  dear  Sir,  in  reason  and  this  boasted  law  of  nature, 
which  formed  an  Aristides,  a  Socrates,  a  Cato,  whom  you 
applaud/or  laughing  at  priests.  Whatever  tricks  or  juggles 
might  have  been  played  in  the  recesses  of  the  Capitol,  where 
tlie  Sibylline  oracles  were  deposited,  to  answer  the  purposes 
ci'  state, — to  animate  the  people  to  war,  from  an  expectation 
oi  success,  under  the  protection  of  Jupiter  or  Apollo, — and 
to  support  the  pride  and  policy  of  Roman  grandeur  ; — the 
priests  of  the  Christian  religion  do  not  conceal  their  belief. 
Cato  inight  laugh  in  seeing  his  colleague,  for  reasons  best 
known  to  themselves  :  and  doubtless,  the  priest,  who  came 
to  the  Roman  lady,  with  a  message  from  Apollo,  informing 
her  that  the  god  intended  to  honour  her  that  night  with  his 
company,  by  sleeping  with  her  in  his  temple,  laughed  heartily 
in  seeing  the  young  gentleman  who  bribed  him  to  the  cheat, 
aiid  the  more  so,  as  on  the  day  following  the  lady  gave  the 
public  to  understand,  that  however  great  Apollo  might  have 
been,  in  his  quality  of  God,  honoured  with  altars  and  temples, 
he  had  nothing  extraordinary  in  his  quality  of  companion. 
Giito's  priests  then  might  have  laughed  in  seeing  one  another; 
the  mysteries  and  rites  of  their  Gods,  as  debauched  and  Cor- 
fu pt  as  themselves,  afforded  scenes  of  impure  mirth  :  and  the 
Christian  clergy  are  obliged  to  the  Doctor  for  putting  them 
c<::d  the  three  brothers,  the  Father,  Son,  and    Holy  Ghost, 

*  Thoughts  on  Nature  and  Re! igioB,  pag e  127. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  11 

whom  they  worship,  on  a  level  with  the  heathen  priests  and 
their  Jupiter,  who  ravished  Ganymedes,  Neptune  and  his  sea 
nymphs,  and  Pluto,  who  carried  off'  Proserpina. 

In  spite  of  the  preference,  given  by  the  Doctor  to  Cato 
and  Socrates,  over  the  Christian  clergy,  and  the  sufficiency 
of  the  law  of  nature  to  regulate  the  conduct  of  man,  we  can 
assure  him,  that  under  the  direction  of  a  Christian  mother, 
who  never  studied  philosophy \  a  child  imbibes  sublimer  no- 
tions of  divinity,  and  purer  ideas  of  virtue,  than  Plato  ever 
taught  in  the  academy,  or  Aristotle  in  the  Lyceum.  Whfct 
were  those  boasted  sages  whom  our  modern  Free-thinkers  so 
often  introduce  on  the  stage,  as  paragons  of  wisdom,  in  or- 
der to  play  the  dazzling  glass  in  the  eyes  of  the  unwary,  by- 
making  reason  their  only  oracle,  and  painting  religion  as 
priest-craft  ?  Some  doubted  of  their  own  existence,  and  con- 
sequently of  the  existence  of  a  God.  Some  figured  to  them- 
selves an  indolent  God,  who  never  concerned  himself  in  the 
affairs  of  mortals,  equally  indifferent  about  vice  or  virtue ; 
who,  to  use  the  words  of  Lucretius,  '  ne'er  smiles  at  good, 
'  ne'er  frowns  at  wicked  deeds.'  Some  considered  the  Su- 
preme Being  as  the  slave  of  destiny.  Others  as  incorporate 
with  the  universe,  and  a  part  of  a  world  which  is  the  work 
of  his  hand. 

What  extravagant  notions  concerning  the  nature  of  the 
soul !  In  one  school  it  was  an  assemblage  of  atoms  ;  in  ano- 
ther it  was  subtile  air  ;  in  a  third  school  it  was  a  something 
which,  after  its  separation  from  one  body,  entered  into 
another,  roaming  from  heaven  to  earth  and  from  earth  to 
heaven,  without  any  permanent  abode ;  alternately  swaying 
the  sceptre  of  authority  in  the  hands  of  the  monarch,  and 
animating  the  body  of  a  beast  of  burden.  Their  great  re- 
medy against  the  terrors  of  death,  consisted  in  a  false  but 
flattering  way  of  reasoning.  '  Either  the  soul  dies  with  the 
4  body,  or  survives  it.  If  it  dies  with  the  body  it  cannot  suf- 
'  fer.  If  it  survives  it,  it  will  be  happy.'  Not  reflecting  that 
the  horrors  of  sin,  and  infinite  justice,  may  appoint  an  in- 
termediate state,  wherein  man  is  eternally  miserable.  Hence 
all  the  reins  were  slackened,  and  the  most  abominable  crimes 
honoured  with  priests,  altars,  and  temples.  Public  worship 
became  a  public  prostitution.  Incest,  impurity,  drunkenness, 
hatred^  pride*  were  deified  under  the  fictitious  names  of  Ju- 


12  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

piter,  Juno,  Venus,  Mars,  &c.  and  criminal  Gods  were  wor- 
shipped with  crimes. 

It  was  not  the  mountain  inhabited  by  the  rude  and  unci- 
vilized, which  alone  was  polluted  with  the  smoak  of  profane 
incense  :  the  nations  most  renowned  for  learning  and  re- 
finement,— Romans,  Greeks,  and  Egyptians, — in  the  midst 
of  their  cities,  saw  sumptuous  edifices  consecrated  to  the 
passions  which  the  Gospel  condemns.  By  their  mistakes  and 
errors  it  is  easy  to  perceive  the  weakness  of  reason,  and  the 
necessity  of  repealed  religion. 

Your  philosophers  whom  our  modern  free-thinkers  are 
ever  extolling,  with  a  view  to  degrade,  the  Christian  religion 
and  its  ministers,  never  escaped  the  general  contagion. — 
Your  Cato,  besides  suicide,  was  guilty  of  levities  of  a  softer 
nature  than  the  steel  with  which  he  killed  himself.  Your 
Socrates,  whom  you  would  fain  obtrude  on  the  ignorant,  as 
a  martyr  to  truth  and  the  original  religion  of  nature,  acknow- 
ledges in  his  defence,  that  he  worshipped  the  Gods  of  his 
city,  and  was  seen  on  public  festivals  sacrificing  at  their  altars. 
His  wrestling  naked  with  his  pupil,  Alcibiades,  was  an  atti- 
tude ill  suited  to  the  character  of  a  man,  entitled  to  a  place 
in  the  calendar  of  saints.  What  shall  I  say  of  the  Cynics, 
who  laid  aside  all  the  natural  restraints  of  shame  and  modesty? 
Of  Chrysippus,  the  advocate  of  intermarriages  between  fa- 
thers and  daughters  ?  Of  the  Persian  Magi,  who  married 
their  mothers  ?  Of  Seneca,  playing  the  moralist  in  public, 
debauching  his  sovereign's  wife  in  private,  and  preferring  his 
pretended  wise  man  to  God  himself?  What  shall  I  say  of 
the  divine  Plato,  who  annihilates  the  institution  of  connubial 
ties  ?  Who  by  introducing  a  community  of  women,  and 
refusing  the  husband  any  exclusive  property  in  the  marriage 
bed,  would  fain  introduce  a  horrid  confusion  amongst  men  ; 
confound  all  paternal  rights,  which  nature  itself  respected, 
and  people  his  republic  with  inhabitants,  uncertain  of  their 
origin,  without  tenderness,  affection,  or  humanity;  whereas 
in  such  a  state  it  would  have  been  impossible  for  the  son  to 
know  his  fatner. 

Such  is  the  boasted  reason  you  take  for  your  guide,  and 
lo.  the  great  luminaries  it  has  produced!  Aset  of  proud  men, 
bewildered  in  a  labyrinth  of  the  most  monstrous  errors.  If 
our  modern  philosophers  are  more  refined  than  those  ancient 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  13 

sages,  it  is  to  the  Christian  religion,  which  they  would  fain 
overthrow,  to  the  writings  of  its  doctors,  whom  they  deride, 
and  to  the  first  principles  of  a  Christian  education,  which 
they  cannot  entirely  forget,  that  they  are  indebted  for  their 
superiority. 

Before  revealed  religion  dispelled  the  mist,  reason  was 
overspread  with  error,  in  the  breasts  of  the  greatest  men. 
It  is  no  more  than  a  bare  capacity  to  be  instructed ;  an  en- 
gine veering  at  every  breath ;  equally  disposed  to  minister  to 
vice  as  well  as  to  virtue,  according  to  the  variety  and  customs 
of  different  climates.  It  did  not  hinder  the  Egyptian  from 
worshipping  leeks  and  onions,  nor  the  i\.thenian,  Socrates, 
from  offering  a  cock  to  Esculapius. 

But  is  man  to  be  debarred  the  use  of  his  reason,  or  has  he 
any  thing  to  dread  for  not  believing  mysteries  he  cannot 
comprehend?  Make  full  use  of  your  reason,  not  with  a  design 
to  fall  into  scepticism,  but  with  a  sincere  desire  to  come  at 
the  knowledge  of  the  truth.  Reason  is  never  better  em- 
ployed than  in  discovering  the  will  of  its  author  :  and  when 
once  we  discover  that  it  is  his  will  we  should  believe,  reason 
itself  suggests  that  it  is  our  duty  to  submit;  otherwise  we 
are  guilty  of  rebellion  against  the  first  of  sovereigns  :  and  to 
deny  his  power  to  punish  the  disobedience  of  his  creatures, 
is  more  than  you  have  attempted. 

This  important  enquiry  should  be  attended  with  a  pure 
heart  and  fervent  prayer.  However  a  philosopher  may  laugh 
at  the  hint,  as  Cato  would  laugh  if  he  met  a  priest.  It  was 
after  a  fervent  prayer  Solomon  received  his  wisdom  :  after  a 
fervent  prayer,  Cornelius  the  Centurion,  obtained  the  privi- 
lege of  becoming  the  first  convert  from  amongst  the  Gentiles. 
Even  the  heathen,  Democritus,  who  figured  so  much  amongst 
the  literati  of  his  time,  constantly  prayed  the  Gods  to  send 
him  good  images.  Religion  would  not  seem  so  absurd,  the 
number  of  free-thinkers  would  not  be  so  great,  if  we  made 
it  our  business  to  purify  the  heart,  and  earnestly  to  beg  of 
the  Divinity  to  enlighten  our  understanding.  For  the  pas- 
sions of  the  heart,  and  too  much  confidence  in  ourselves, 
pave  the  way  for  the  errors  of  the  mind.  Solomon  became 
dissolute  and  voluptuous  before  he  fell  into  idolatry.  We 
ever  and  always  lose  our  innocence  before  we  laugh  at  cur 
catechism. 


14  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS, 

But  a  philosopher  requires  argument,  and  leaves  prayer  to 
the  vulgar.  Reason  is  too  precious  a  gilt  to  be  offered  at  the 
shrine  of  religion  :  yet  from  St.  Paul,  to  whom  the  Roman 
governor  said  that  too  much  learning  had  turned  his  head, 
down  to  John  Locke,  the  great  historian  of  the  human  un- 
derstanding, the  greatest  men  the  wond  ever  produced,  have 
believed  mysteries  beyond  their  comprehension.  They  all 
knew  that  God  cannot  lie,  nor  deceive  mortals,  but  that  man 
is  liable  to  error.  If  then  my  reason  discovers,  that  the  mo- 
tives of  credibility  are  sufficient  to  induce  me  to  believe,  that 
God  has  proposed  such  and  such  a  doctrine;  the  same  reason 
immediately  whispers,  believe  your  God,  for  he  can  do  more, 
than  you  can  comprehend. 

In  denying  mysteries,  because  we  cannot  comprehend  them, 
we  may  as  well  deny  our  existence.  For  our  very  existence 
is  a  mystery  we  can  never  comprehend.  How  many  valves 
and  springs,  how  many  veins  and  arteries,  what  an  assemblage 
of  bones,muscles,  canals,  juices,  nerves,  fluids,  tubes,  vessels, 
are  requisite  to  make  tnat  frail  being  called  man?  Great  par- 
tizans  of  nature  and  reason  (words  often  used  to  vt  il  your  ig- 
norance), take  a  handful  of  dust  and  shape  it  in  the  figure  of 
a  man,  bore  the  veins  and  arteries,  lay  the  sinews  and  ten- 
dons, fit  the  joints  and  blow  into  its  nostrils  your  philosophi- 
cal breath,  make  it  move,  walk,  speak,  concert  plans,  form 
schemes;  make  it  susceptible  of  love,  fear,  joy,  hope,  de- 
sire, &c.  then  we  will  recognize  ycur  comprehensive  know- 
ledge of  the  imperceptible  progress,  and  divine  mechanism 
of  the  human  frame.  For  the  formation  of  each  of  us  is  as 
wonderful  as  the  formation  of  the  first.  Your  very  bodies  of 
which  you  are  so  fond,  are  mysteries  in  which  your  reason  is 
lost ;  and  you  would  fain  have  a  religion  which  proposes  no- 
thing but  what  your  reason  comprehends.  Thousands  of 
vears  elapsed  before  Harvey  discovered  the  circulation  of  the 
blood.  Thousands  will  elapse  before  the  delicate  texture  of 
the  human  frame  is  knowrn. 

Disengage  yourselves,  if  you  can,  from  the  impenetrable 
folds  and  darkness  of  our  own  frames.  Take  a  survey  of 
all  the  objects  that  surround  you  ;  you  plunge  into  an  abyss 
overspread  with  darkness  and  obscurity.  Explain  to  us  how 
one  and  the  same  water  paints  and  dyes  the  different  flowers 
into  various  colours,  the  pink,  the  lilly,  the  tulip,  the  rose ; 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  15 

vtT  how  from  an  inodorous  earth  they  draw  their  sweet  per- 
fumes !  The  cell  of  the  bee,  which  that  little  insect  makes 
according  to  the  nicest  rules  of  geometry,  without  studying 
the  mathematics,  and  in  the  construction  whereof  the  curious 
have  observed  all  the  advantages  which  geometers  derive 
from  Newton's  doctrine  of  fluxions,  the  minima  and  maxima, 
and  the  extraordinary  contrivance,  whereby  a  less  quantity  of 
surface  is  sufficient  to  contain  a  given  quantity  of  honey,  which 
saves  that  creature  much  wax  and  labour.  The  cell  of  the 
bee,  the  granary  of  the  ant,  the  heart,  lungs,  liver,  &c.  of  the 
mite,  baffle  your  learned  researches. 

From  the  immense  bodies  swimming  in  the  azure  fluid 
above,  to  the  blade  of  grass  which  springs  under  your  feet, 
every  thing  h  a  mystery  to  man. 

If  you  range  in  the  boundless  region  of  the  abstract  sciences, 
what  a  fathomless  ocean  of  truths  which  you  must  acknow- 
ledge, without  comprehending  !  Lines  eternally  drawing  near 
to  each  other,  without  ever  meeting  !  Motion  for  ever  slacken- 
ing, without  ever  coming  to  a  point  of  rest !  The  infinite  di- 
visibility of  matter,  whereby  a  small  grain  of  wheat  incloses  in 
itself  as  many  parts  (though  lesser  in  proportion)  as  the  whole 
world  !  The  smallest  part  of  the  same  grain  containing  ano- 
ther world,  and  the  least  part  of  that  part,  as  small,  with  re- 
spect to  the  grain,  as  the  grain  is,  with  respect  to  the  entire 
frame  of  the  universe,  and  so  on,  to  infinity ! 

If,  then,  the  vigour  of  our  wit  must  yield  to  an  atom  of 
matter,  is  it  not  an  abuse  of  reason,  to  refuse  our  assent  to 
truths  propounded  by  an  all- wise  and  omnipotent  Being,  only 
because  they  are  above  our  conception  ? 

If  nature  be,  then,  a  mysterious  Book,  closed  up  with  a 
seven-fold  seal,  is  it  not  presumption  and  blindness  in  man 
not  to  submit  to  unerring  wisdom  ?  Revealed  religion  once 
secluded,  a  faint  light  and  lame  kind  of  liberty  would  be  our 
boasted  privilege.  Wounded  man  could  never  find,  in  his 
reason,  sufficient  light  to  discover  the  truths  of  eternal  life  ; 
nor  in  his  liberty  ^  sufficient  strength  to  follow  their  dictates. 
Like  the  bleeding  traveller,  on  the  road  of  Jericho,  he  stands 
in  need  of  the  assistance  of  some  foreign  and  healing  hand. 

*  It  is  none  of  his  fault,'  says  St.  Austin,  who  had  himself 
been  a  proud  and  voluptuous  Philosopher,  '  if  he  cannot  make 
*  use  of  his  broken  limbs  :  but  he  is  guilty,  if  he  despises  the 


16  miscellaneous  tracts. 

*  physician  who  proffers  to  cure  him :  and  he  is  humbly  to 
'  acknowledge  his  weakness,  to  obtain  help.  This  assistance 
1  is  ministered,  not  by  the  law  of  nature,   but  by  the  tree  of 

*  life,  who  says  of  himself:    I  am  the  vine  :  you  are  the 

*  branches  :  without  me  you  cannot  do  any  thing/ 

The  two  fatal  springs  of  our  evils,  are — the  error  of  the 
mind,  and  the  infirmity  of  the  will.  In  him  we  find  the  re- 
medy :  the  light  of  revelation  to  dispel  our  darkness,  and  his 
enlivening  grace  to  purify  the  heart.  You  are  ready  to  ac- 
knowledge him  as  the  divine  and  inexhaustible  fountain  of 
both,  if  once  some  passages,  which,  in  your  opinion,  militate 
against  his  Divinity,  could  be  reconciled.  An  attempt  sUall 
be  made  in  my  next  letter. 


I  have  the  honour  to  be,  &c. 

ARTHUR  O'LEARY. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 


17 


LETTER  III. 

Sir, 

AN  incarnate  God,  whose  bleeding  wounds  have  paid  our 
ransom,  is  one  of  those  mysteries  that  stuns  and  disconcerts 
human  reason,  liable  to  stray  through  the  winding  paths  of 
roving  error,  if  the  clew  of  faith  do  not  direct  our  steps  and 
minister  its  assistance.  He  appeared  on  earth  to  cancel  our 
crimes ;  to  nail  to  the  cross  the  schedule  of  our  condem- 
nation ;  to  lacerate  and  tear  the  woeful  hand- writing  that  gave 
us  over  to  rebel  angels ;  to  snatch  sinful  man  from  the  hands 
of  divine  justice  ;  and  to  unlock  the  awful  gates  of  the  eternal 
sanctuary,  whither  no  mortal  has  access,  but  through  the 
blood  of  the  spotless  Pontiff.  He  appeared,  in  fine,  to  raise, 
through  his  merits,  all  those  who  fell  by  Adam's  guilt ;  to 
form  a  faithful  and  holy  people,  a  faithful  people,  *  by  capti- 
f  vating  their  understanding  to  the  yoke  of  faith,'  and  a  holy 
people,  whose  conversation,  according  to  St.  Paul,  ought  to 
be  in  heaven ;  and  who  are  to  follow  no  longer  the  dictates 
of  the  flesh. 

Our  ignorance  of  his  nature  would  expose  us  to  the  fatal 
alternative — either  of  becoming  idolaters  in  worshipping  a 
man,  which  is  the  case  of  all  Christians,  if  your  opinion  be 
well  grounded,  or  of  refusing  God  the  homage  that  is  due  to 
him,  which  is  your  case,  if  you  mistake  and  err.  If  Christ 
be  not  God,  the  Christians  are  in  the  same  case  with  theido- 
latrous  Tartars,  who  worship  a  living  man :  and  if  he  be  God 
above  all,  and  blessed  for  ever,  you  may  as  well  believe  the 
Alcoran,  as  believe  the  Scriptures ;  and  invoke  Mahomet,  as 
invoke  the  son  of  Mary.  He  declares,  '  that  life  eternal 
'  consists  in  the  knowledge  of  Himself,  and  of  the  Father  who 
*  sent  him.'  In  such  an  important  article,  it  is  too  hazardous 
to  plead  ignorance,  in  hopes  of  impunity  :  for  the  Scripture 
says,  that  *  there  is  a  way  which  man  thinks  to  be  the  right 
'  one  ;  and  the  end  thereof  are  the  ways  of  death.'  The  Di- 
vinity of  Christ,  evidenced  by  the  accomplishment  of  so  many 
oracles,  and  supported  by  the  concurrent  testimonies  of  all 
nations  and  ages,  since  his  appearance  on  earth,  has  so  many 


18  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

apologists,  that  the  doctor  can  easily  meet  with  some  of  them 
in  every  library,  and,  I  doubt  not,  in  his  own ;  and  that  it 
were  presumption  in  me  to  attempt  going  over  the  same 
ground ;  especially,  after  what  Abadie  and  Houteville  have 
said  on  this  important  subject.  Moreover,  Sir,  you  acknow- 
ledge the  authenticity  of  the  Scriptures ;  and  found  your 
doubts,  either  on  the  obscurity  of  some  passages,  or  the  mis- 
application of  some  prophecies,  or  the  numberless  texts,  re- 
lating to  Christ's  humanity.  In  this  walk,  I  take  the  liberty 
of  attending  you,  step  by  step;  and  shall  avoid,  as  much  as 
possible,  any  long  digression ;  lest  we  may  stray  too  far  from 
the  path. 

OBSCURITY. 

You  affirm,  that  the  first  chapter  of  St.  John,  in  which  the 
Divinity  of  Christ  is  asserted,  *  In  the  beginning  was  the 
1  Word  ;  and  the  Word  was  with  God  ;  and  the  Word  was 
'  God ;'  is  intricate  and  obscure.  It  is  quite  the  reverse  ;  and 
Christ's  Divinity  cannot  be  read  in  more  legible  characters. 
You  understand  by  the  Word,  '  the  Man  Jesus,  whom  God 
'  raised  up  in  time,  and  to  whom  God  imparted  extraordinary 

*  gifts.'  In  understanding  by  the  Word,  the  Man  Jesus,  you 
are  in  similar  circumstances  with  king  Agrippa,  who  said: 
'  Paul,  Paul,  you  have  made  me  almost  a  Christian.'  You 
Mould  be  entirely  a  Christian,  if  you  added  to  '  the  Man  Jesus, 
whom  God  raised  up  in  time,'  the  God  Jesus,  who  was  be- 
gotten from  eternity :  according  to  the  saying  of  the  Psalmist, 

*  before  the  morning  star  I  have  begotten  thee  :'  words  which 
Christ  applies  to  himself.  Or  you  understand  by  the  fore- 
going words,  '  In  the  beginning  was  the  word,'  &c.  truth  and 
righteousness,  co-eternal  tvith  the  Divinity.  Permit  me  to  tell 
you,  that  you  explain  one  obscurity  by  another ;  and  that, 
notwithstanding  all  your  shifts,  either  the  Evangelist  did  not 
know  what  he  was  saying,  or  you  must  absolutely  allow 
an  eternal  and  pre-existent  principle,  united  to  human  nature, 

*  in  the  fulness  of  time.' 

To  prove  what  I  advanced,  I  shall  adopt  your  interpre- 
tation, and  place  truth  in  the  room  of  word.     *  In  the  begin- 

*  ning  was  the  truth ;  and  the  truth  was  with  God  :  and   God 

*  was  the  truth.*  Remark,  here,  that  God  and  the  truth  ate 
identified  :—  God  was  the  truth.     In  the  same  chapter,  it  is 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  19 

said :  '  the  Word  was  made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us.*  In 
adopting  your  interpretation,  it  will  be :  '  the  truth  was  made 

*  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us,'  viz.  the  same  truth  of  which  he 
said  before,  that  it  was  God  himself;  and  then  the  entire 
sense  will  be,  God,  the  truth,  was  made  flesh,  and  dwelt 
amongst  us.  Upon  the  whole,  you  are  to  acknowledge  an 
eternal,  pre-existent  principle,  assuming  human  nature ;  or  to 
reject  this  chapter  as  suppositious,  which  no  Arian  or  So- 
cinian  ever  did. 

You  accuse  the  English  translators  of  some  design,  in 
transposing  these  words,  '  k*1  ©eo?  w  b  Aoy©^  <  And  God  was 

*  the  Word,'  which  they  have  Englished,  'and  the  Word 

*  was  God,'  as  if  they  intended  to  promote  the  Christian 
cause  by  an  artful  transposition. 

I  see  no  advantage  you  can  derive  from  so  severe  and  in- 
jurious an  intimation.  Whether  we  say,  '  God  was  the 
'Word,'  or  'the  Word  was  God,'  the  sense  is  the  same: 
for,  in  all  languages,  it  is  the  nature  of  the  copulative  verb 
(is)  to  identify  the  predicate  and  the  subject,  if  it  be  not  fol- 
lowed by  some  exclusive  particle  or  negative  word.  Peter 
was  or  is  that  man  :  transpose  the  words,  and  such  will  be  the 
result  of  the  transposition  :  that  man  was  or  is  Peter.  The 
sense  is  the  same  in  both  cases :  and  the  same  may  be  said, 
and  is  true,  whether  we  say,  '  God  was  the  Word,'  or  '  the 
'  Word  was  God.' 

This  chapter  is  as  clear  as  the  first  chapter  of  St.  Paul's 
epistle  to  the  Colossians,  wherein  he  sets  forth  and  extols  the 
qualities  of  our  divine  Redeemer,  '  by  whom  were  made  all 
'things  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  visible  and  invisible; 
'  whether  thrones,  or  dominions,  or  principalities,  or  powers : 
'  all  things  were  created  by  him  and  in  him  :  and  he  is  before 
'  all :  and  all  things  subsist  in  him.'* 

If  all  things,  that  are,  were  made  by  him,  he  himself  was 
not  made :  and  his  divine  power  is  signified,  when  it  is  said, 
'  all  things  subsist,'  or  are  preserved  by  him. 

Further :  critics  lay  down  a  general  rule,  whereby  to  elu- 
cidate the  sense  and  meaning  of  authors,  viz.  to  know  the 
time  in  which  they  lived  ;  the  circumstances  in  which  they 
wrote  ;  and  the  adversaries  with  whom  they  were  engaged. 
The  application  of  the  rule  evinces  the  literality  of  the  first 

9  Verse  IS,  17. 


20  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

chapter  of  St.  John,  which  puzzled  and  perplexed  the  Arians 
and  Socinians,  and  exhausted  the  metaphysics  of  the  subtle 
Crellius.  St.  John  wrote  his  gospel  at  the  request  of  the 
Asiatic  bishops,  in  opposition  to  the  false  doctrine  of  Ebion 
and  Cerinthus,  who  denied  the  divinity  of  the  Son  of  God. 
Motives,  circumstances,  the  nature  of  the  question,  the  doc- 
trine of  his  adversaries,  all  concur  to  prove  that  he  is  to  be 
understood  in  a  literal  sense  :  a  sense  so  free  from  any  mys- 
terious obscurity,  that  the  Platonic  philosophers,  according 
to  St.  Austin,  discovered,  in  this  chapter,  the  Divinity  of  the 
Son  of  God.     '  But  they  were  too  proud,'  says  this  father, 

*  to  acknowledge  the  lowness  of  his  humanity.' 

SECOND    OBSCURITT. 

To  invalidate    our  ^belief   of    Christ's    conception   in   a 
virgin's  womb,  you  oppose  St.  Matthew,  who  says,  'that 

*  Jacob  was  father  to  Joseph,  the  husband  of  Mary,'  to  St. 
Luke,  who  says,  '  that  Heli  was  Joseph's  father.'  But  this 
seeming  contradiction  vanishes,  if  we  pay  attention  to  the 
manner  in  which  the  Jews  sometimes  traced  their  genealogy. 
In  Deuteronomy,*  the  law  declares,  *  that  if  one  brother  dies 

*  without  children,  the  surviving  brother  shall  marry  his  re- 
c  lict,  in  order  to  raise  up  issue  for  the  deceased,'  which  issue 
was  to  bear  his  name.  Hence,  a  twofold  genealogy  amongst 
the  Jews  ;  the  one  legal,  the  other  natural.  Jacob  and  Heli 
ivere  brothers.  Heli  died  without  issue.  Jacob  married  his 
relict,  and  begot  Joseph,  the  husband  of  Mary.  Thus,  when 
St.  Luke  calls  Heli  ■  Joseph's  father,'  he  means,  his  father, 
according  to  the  law :  and  when  St.  Matthew  calls  Jacob 
c  Joseph's  father,'  he  means,  his  father,  according  to  nature  : 
and  by  this  means,  the  Evangelists  are  easily  reconciled. 
Other  solutions  are  given  to  this  difficulty,  and  you  are  at 
3'our  option  to  give  the  preference  to  which  you  choose. 
The  Jewish  records,  and  their  family  registers  have  been 
burnt  with  the  archives  of  their  temple.  We  live  at  too  great 
a  distance  to  settle  the  genealogies  of  their  families.  The 
Evangelists,  besides  the  gift  of  inspiration,  had  every  in- 
formation, as  they  were  nearer  the  times.  In  certain  coun- 
tries, there  are  some  traces  of  this  ancient  custom  of  giving 
the  denomination  of  father  or  uncle  to  a  person  who  is  not 

*  Cliap.  xxv. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  21 

cither  the  one  or  the  other,  but  by  a  fiction  of  law.   Hence,  in  * 
the  province  of  Britany,  in  France,  by  their  municipal  law,  u 
relation,  in  a  remoter  degree,  inherits  as  an  uncle ;  and  has 
the  title  of  '  Oncle  a  la  mode  de  Bretagne,'  an  uncle,  accord- 
ing to  the  custom  of  Britany. 

If,  of  two  historians,  in  writing  the  life  of  one  of  their  no- 
bles, one  said,  that  he  was  nephew  to  one,  and  the  other,  that 
he  was  nephew  to  another,  could  we  impeach  either  with  ig- 
norance, when  both  could  be  reconciled  by  examining  into 
the  customs  of  the  country  in  which  they  wrote  ?  And,  if  the 
rule  stands  good  with  regard  to  authors  of  credit  and  repute, 
how  much  more  so,  with  regard  to  inspired  writers  ? 

Let  us  now  examine  your  difficulty  relative  to  this  famous 
prophecy  of  Isaiah,*  applied  to  Jesus  Christ  by  St.  Matthew,f 

*  a  virgin  shall  conceive,  and  bring  forth  a  Son  :  and  they 

*  shall  call  his  name  Immanuel :  that  is  to  sav,  God  is  with 
'us.' 

You  assert,  that,  '  St.  Matthew  did  not  well  understand  the 
'  Prophet's  meaning :'  and,  '  that  this  prophecy  concerns  one 
4  Maher-shalal-hashbas,  born  of  a  prophetess,  and  given  as  a 

*  sign  to  Ahaz,  king  of  Judah.'  An  easy  way  to  elude  a  text 
of  Scripture !  Mistakes  and  ignorance  attributed  to  inspired 
writers ! 

We  are  to  state  the  fact  that  gave  occasion  to  this  prophecy, 
before  we  attempt  to  unfold  its  mysterious  sense,  and  to  shew 
how  the  coincidence  of  circumstances  makes  it  applicable  to 
Jesus  Christ,  and  to  him  alone. 

The  kings  of  Israel  and  Syria  laid  siege  to  Jerusalem,  with 
a  design  to  cut  off  the  house  of  David,  and  place  a  stranger 
on  the  throne.  Ahaz,  who  could  not  be  ignorant  of  Jacob's 
prophecy,  who  had  foretold,  '  that  the  sceptre  should  not  de- 
part from  the  house  of  Judah,  until  Shiloh,  or  the  Messiah, 
*was  come'|  apprehended,  not  only  the  reduction  of  the 
city,  but  moreover  the  total  excision  of  the  Jewish  polity, 
which  was  to  happen  when  the  sceptre  was  to  depart  from  the 
house  of  David:  as  it  afterwards  came  to  pass,  about  the  time 
of  the  birth  of  Christ,  when  the  Jews  were  obliged  to  receive 
such  kings  as  the  Romans  chose  to  appoint. 

To  dispel  the  fears  of  the  desponding  king,  the  Prophet 
gives  him  two  signs,  confirming,  first,  that  the  sceptre  should 

-  Chan.  vii.  vrvse  14.  -f  Chsp.  i.  %  Genesis,  vhan.  xxix. 


'22  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

not  depart  from  the  house  of  David,  until  a  child  is  born  of  a 
virgin,  in  a  miraculous  manner,  who  would  be  God  himself, 
Immanuel:  and,  as  there  was  not  such  a  miraculous  child  in 
his  kingdom,  he  might  rest  secure  that  the  sceptre  should 
not  depart  so  soon  from  the  royal  line.  Thus,  his  alarms, 
concerning  the  house  of  David,  are  quieted,  in  hearing  the 
prophecy  foretelling  a  miraculous  birth,  which  was  to  happen 
at  a  distant  period.  There  still  remained  another  doubt, 
viz.  whether  the  confederate  kings  would  take  Jerusalem,  be- 
sieged by  such  powerful  forces  "?  And  this  the  prophet  re- 
moved, by  telling  him,  that  his  own  child*  should  not  be  of 
age  to  discern  good  from  evil,  before  the  two  kings  would  be 
cut  off. 

Between  Immanuel  and  Maher-shalal-hashbas  there  is  not 
the  least  connexion.  The  first  signifies,  in  Hebrew,  God  with 
us :  the  second  signifies,  hasten  to  take  the  spoils :  make  haste 
to  take  the  prey. '  The  one  is  conceived  by  a  virgin,  the  other 
is  the  fruit  of  connubial  ties:  and  the  Prophet  expressly  de- 
clares it.f  Upon  this  occasion,  we  do  not  read,  'hat  he  mar- 
ried a  second  wife  :  neither  was  polygamy  familiar  to  austere 
persons  of  the  prophetic  profession :  and  the  third  verse,  of 
the  seventh  chapter,  absolutely  precludes  a  state  of  virginity, 
whereas  the  Prophet  is  commanded  to  go  with  his  son  to  meet 
the  kins;:  and  this  son  must  be  older  than  Maher-shalal- 
hashbas. 

The  prophecy,  then,  relates  to  two  different  persons,  Im- 
manuel and  Maher-shalal-hashbas  ;  two  different  objects,  the 
excision  of  the  royal  line  of  David,  and  the  reduction  of  Je- 
rusalem ;  two  different  events  and  signs  ;  the  raising  of  the 
siege,  and  the  defeat  of  the  two  confederate  kings,  which  was 
to  be  accomplished  speedily,  before  the  prophet's  child  could 
cry  to  his  father  and  mother  :  and  the  other,  I  mean  the  total 
extinction  of  the  Jewish  regal  authority,  when  the  sceptre  was 
to  be  wrested  from  David's  descendants,  and  lodged  in  the 
hands  of  the  Essenian  kings,  under  the  protection  of  the 
Romans,  about  the  time  of  Immanuei's  birth,  *  who  is  God 
*  above  all,  and  blessed  for  ever.' 

Should  any  doubt  still  remain,  concerning  this  famous 
prophecy,  faith  is  the  firm  anchor  that  ought  to  fix  the  doubts 
of  a  fluctuating  mind  :  and  humility  should  be  so  far  preva- 

*  Mentioned,  chap.  viii.  yer.  4.  f  In  chap.  Tiii.  ver.  3. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  23 

lent,  as  to  induce  us  to  prefer  the  opinion  of  an  inspired 
writer  before  our  own.  We  must  renounce  the  Scriptures, 
or  acknowledge  that  an  Evangelist  is  a  more  competent  judge 
of  a  prophet's  meaning  than  we  can  pretend  to  be. 

After  wading  through  those  difficulties,  I  shall  not  swell 
my  page  with  all  the  passages  quoted  in  your  book,  to  prove 
Christ's  humanity  :  I  allow  them  all.  But  what  are  we  to  do 
with  all  the  texts  that  prove  his  divinity  ?  '  The  Alpha  and 
'  Omega.'  'The  beginning  and  end.'  'My  Father  and  I 
'are  one.'  '  The  first  and  the  last.'  'A  God  manifested  in 
'flesh;  a  God  mortified  in  flesh.'  'God  was  the  Word.* 
Supreme  worship  due  to  God  alone.  '  Let  all  the  angels  of 
'  God  adore  him.'  Eternal  generation.  '  This  day  I  have 
'  begotten  thee.'  The  express  appellation  of  a  God,  and  his 
sovereign  dominion.  '  Unto  the  Son  he  saith,  thy  throne, 
'  O  God,  is  for  ever  and  ever,'  &c.  &c.  &c. 

To  elude  the  texts  that  assert  his  divinity,  you  take  refuge 
in  a  vain  distinction  of  two  characters  in  which  Christ  ap- 
peared ;  the  one  private,  the  other  public:  a  man,  in  his 
private  character ;  an  ambassador  or  messenger  of  God,  in 
his  public  ministry,  by  shewing  his  credentials,  and  assuming 
the  title  of  God,  in  quality  of  an  ambassador.  I  appeal  to  the 
judgment  of  the  public,  if  this  be  not  sporting  with  words, 
and  perverting  the  use  of  language. 

In  the  most  solemn  negociations  between  monarchs,  do 
their  ambassadors  or  envoys  arrogate  to  themselves  the  title 
of  kings  ?  And  in  the  most  authentic  ratifications  of  treaties, 
do  not  they  sign  in  their  masters'  names  ?  Has  any  of  them 
the  presumption  to  pass  for  the  son  of  his  master?  When 
Christ  said  to  his  disciples,  '  as  my  living  Father  has  sent  me, 
1  so  I  send  you.'  When  St.  Paul  said,  '  we  are  Christ's  am- 
'  bassadors,'  did  either  he  or  any  of  the  Apostles  say,  '  I  am 
'  Christ;  Christ  and  I  are  one.  Whatever  Christ  does,  I  do 
4  in  like  manner.  I  am  before  Abraham.  I  am  before  all 
'  things  V 

When,  by  way  of  allusion,  the  title  of  God  is  given  to  any 
mortal  in  the  Scriptures,  the  limitations  and  restrictions, 
under  which  it  is  given,  evidently  preclude  an  indisputable 
claim  to  such  an  awful  title.  It  is  a  gift  bestowed  with  a  par- 
simonious hand.  'I  have  made  thee  the  God  of  Pharaoh*' 
says  the  Almighty  to  Moses.     This  word,  Pharaoh,  limits 

z 


24  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

and  circumscribes  the  power  of  the  deified  mortal,  and  evinces 
a  precarious  title.  '  I  have  said  ye  are  Gods,'  but  the  addi- 
tion of  the  following  words,  'ye  shall  die,'  clears  up  the  pro- 
phet's meaning.  Besides,  this  appellation  is  given  by  some 
others  :  no  person  assumes  it  himself.  Christ  declares,  that 
he  is  the  Son  of  God,  the  same  with  his  Father.  In  his  per- 
son, all  the  lineaments  of  the  Divinity  are  united.  Pro- 
phecies and  oracles,  predicting  '  that  God  himself  will  come 
'  to  save  us,'  are  applied  to  him.  He  declares  himself  to  be 
the  same  :  and  St.  Paul  affirms,  that  he  thought  it  no  usurpa- 
tion to  be  equal  to  the  Most  High. 

In  vain,  then,  it  is  alleged,  that  Christ  and  his  Apostles 
applied  these  oracles  and  passages  to  the  Son  of  God,  in  a 
figurative  manner,  or,  to  use  the  term  of  the  schools,  in  an 
accommodate  sense. 

Lucifer  himself,  who  attempted  '  to  raise  his  throne  above 
'  the  clouds,  and  make  himself  like  unto  the  Most  High,' 
could  not  have  used  a  more  impious  and  blasphemous  figure, 
than  to  usurp  the  name  and  attributes  of  the  sovereign 
Being;  to  require  the  same  homage,  adoration,  and  love,  that 
are  due  to  the  Divinity.  '  He  that  loves  father  and  mother 
'  more  than  me,  is  not  worthy  to  be  my  disciple.'  '  Whoever 
'  loves  his  soul  more  than  me,  is  not  worthy  to  be  my  dis- 
'  ciple.'     Did  mortal  before  ever  use  such  words  ? 

All  other  figures  and  allegories  are  explained  in  some  part 
of  Scripture,  or  wrapped  up  in  mysterious  clouds,  to  be  dis- 
pelled by  the  brightness  of  eternal  day,  after  exercising  our 
belief:  but  with  regard  to  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  if  it  be  a 
figure,  it  is  a  metaphor  continued  through  a  long  chain  of 
prophecies  and  oracles,  without  the  least  explication  to  unfold 
its  mysterious  sense,  repeated  almost  in  every  page  of  the 
New  Testament,  and  sealed  with  the  blood  of  Christ,,  his 
Apostles,  and  Martyrs.  When  he  appeared  on  earth  to 
convert  the  Jews  and  Gentiles,  and  destroy  idolatry,  which 
blindfolded  mankind,  could  he  have  taken  more  opposite 
steps  to  his  mission,  than  to  raise,  the  dead,  and  change  the 
course  of  nature,  in  proof  of  a  doctrine  insinuating  his  Di- 
vinity, if  he  had  no  real  claim  to  the  title  ?  At  a  time  when 
the  credulous  multitude  were  apt  to  enrol  extraordinary  men 
in  the  number  of  their  Gods;  when  they  worshipped  the 
Garth  that  nourished  them  ;  the  air  that  refreshed  them  ;  the 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  25 

sun  that  enlightened  them ;  the  moon  that  directed  their 
steps  in  the  obscurity  of  night ;  the  fire  that  warmed  them  ; 
the  heroes  that  cleared  the  woods  and  forests  of  lions  and 
serpents  that  annoyed  them  ;  the  conquerors  who  delivered 
them  from  their  enemies  ;  the  wise  and  generous  princes  who 
rendered  their  subjects  happy,  and  the  memory  of  their  reign 
immortal.  At  a  time  when  altars  were  erected  at  Athens,  to 
the  Unknown  God  ;  when  the  priests  of  Salamis  raised  the 
sacrifice  knife,  to  offer  victims  in  honour  of  Paul,  whom  they 
took  for  Mercury,  on  account  of  his  eloquence,  and  the  no- 
velty of  his  doctrine  ;  and  in  honour  of  Barnabas,  whom  they 
revered  as  Jupiter,  on  account  of  his  venerable  aspect :  and 
when  the  sortileges  of  Simon,  the  magician,  procured  him  the 
honour  of  a  temple  at  Rome,  and  the  appellation  of  the  great 
God.  At  such  a  critical  period,  when  gratitude  deified  be- 
nefactors, and  extraordinary  powers  laid  the  foundations  of 
temples,  and  swelled  the  catalogue  of  false  Gods ;  it  was  a 
dangerous  and  ill-timed  doctrine,  to  preach  that  he  was  equal 
to  God ;  that  he  was  the  Son  of  God  ;  that  eternal  life  con- 
sisted in  the  knowledge  of  himself  and  of  his  Father ;  to  com- 
mand his  followers  to  lay  down  their  lives,  sooner  than  deny 
him,  &c.  and  to  confirm  this  doctrine  by  silencing  the  winds 
that  subsided  at  his  nod;  by  calming  the  stormy  seas  ;  chang- 
ing the  nature  of  the  elements ;  restoring  sight  to  the  blind  ; 
the  use  of  their  limbs  to  the  lame  ;  forcing  Death  to  surrender 
his  spoils  ;  and  all  nature  to  acknowledge  his  power  and  em- 
pire. Shall  a  Paul  and  Barnabas  tear  their  garments  in  being- 
taken  for  something  more  than  mortal  men  ;  and  shall  Jesus 
Christ,  if  he  be  not  God,  in  a  calm,  deliberate  manner,  rob 
the  Creator  of  all  things,  of  his  glory  and  the  worship  due  to 
him,  in  affirming  that  himself  and  the  God  of  heaven  are  one ; 
in  applauding  the  faith  of  the  apostle  who  said  that  he  was  the 
Son  of  the  living  God  :  and  in  not  checking  the  disciple  who, 
after  thrusting  his  hand  into  his  side,  exclaimed,  '  my  Lord, 
and  my  God  ! ' 

It  is  not  only  in  the  time  of  his  liberty,  when  he  visits  the 
cities  of  Israel,  healing  their  sick,  raising  their  dead,  feeding 
multitudes  with  a  few  loaves,  and  refusing  the  temporal  so- 
vereignty which  the  people  offered  him,  that  he  attributes  to 
himself  the  prerogatives  of  the  divinity.  It  is  in  chains,  in  the 
the  course  of  his  trial,  and  on  the  cross  :  conjured  by  the  high 


26  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

priest  to  tell  whether  he  is  Christ  the  son  of  God,  he  answers 
in  the  affirmative  ;  and,  in  proof  of  his  assertion,  says  that 
they  shall  see  him  on  the  right  hand  of  God.  '  Do  you  hear 
'the  blasphemy  V  cries  out  the  other.  Had  he  used  any  men* 
tal  reservations  on  this  occasion,  by  saying  one  thing  and 
meaning  another;  by  expressing  outwardly,  'lam  the  son 
'  of  God,'  and  restraining  in  his  mind  the  sense  of  the  words, 
to  the  quality  of  a  messenger;  he  would  not  have  answered 
according  to  the  Pontiff's  meaning,  who  knew  but  too  well 
the  difference  between  a  messenger,  such  as  any  prophet  may 
be,  and  a  son,  who  must  be  of  the  same  nature  with  his  father. 
What  a  precedent  for  perjurers  !  And  what  blasphemy  in  St. 
Paul,  who  affirms,  'that  he  thought  it  no  usurpation  to  make 
*  himself  equal  to  God !' 

Common  sense  often  supplies  the  room  of  metaphysical 
demonstrations.     And  common  sense  will  inform  you,  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  either    the  greatest  impostor  that  ever  ap- 
peared, or  that  he  is  literally  what  he  declared  himself  to  be, 
God  and  Man,  for  whom  the  martyrs  suffered,  whom  the 
Christians  adore,  and  to  whom  all  knees  are  to  bend  one  day. 
If  he  is  an  impostor,   in  vain  has  the  blood  of  impure  vic- 
tims been  drained  ;  in  vain  have  the  altars  of  false  deities  been 
overturned;  in  vain  have  their  idols  been  crushed,  and  their 
temples  destroyed ;  a  new  idol  has  been  set  up  in  their  room, 
and  the  worship  due  to  the  sovereign  Being  has  been  trans- 
ferred to  an  impostor.     If  this  be  the  case,  God,  then,  must 
have  deceived  mortals,  in  investing  an  impostor,  during  his 
life,  and  his  disciples,  after  his  death,  with  such  extraordinary 
powers.     And  the  miracles  wrought  in  confirmation  of  their 
doctrine,  and  which  could  never  be  wrought  but  by  his  ex- 
press and  immediate  power,  must  have  been  wrought  with  an 
express  design  to  mislead  his  creatures  into  delusion  and  er- 
ror.    Reconcile  this,  if  you  can,  to  his  goodness,  wisdom, 
and  providence ;  and  behold  the  absurdities  to  which  incre- 
dulity leads. 

If  you  intend  to  reconcile  those  texts,  that  attribute  to  the 
same  person,  an  eternal  generation  and  birth  in  time  ;  tran- 
scendant  glory  and  profound  humility ;  the  power  and  majesty 
of  a  God,  with  the  sufferings  and  death  of  a  man  :  admit  in 
the  same  person  the  divine  and  human  nature.  Then,  all 
seeming  contradiction  vanish,    His  infirmities  and  sufferings 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  27 

are  applicable  to  him,  as  Man  ;  whilst  his  glorious  characters 
and  titles  are  to  be  attributed  to  his  Godhead,  disguised  un- 
der a  human  veil.  Thus,  in  Jesus  Christ  we  find  the  God 
that  created  us,  whereas  he  is  the  same  with  his  father :  the 
redeemer  who  purchased  us,  by  paying  our  ransom  :  the 
spotless  Pontiff,  through  whom  we  find  access  to  the  throne 
of  mercy.  His  cross  is  folly  to  the  Jew,  and  a  scandal  to  the 
Gentile  :  but  to  the  Christian  it  is  the  power  and  wisdom  of 
God.  For  if  he  was  not  man,  he  could  not  suffer ;  and  if 
he  were  not  God,  his  sufferings  would  not  avail  us.  He  be- 
comes  man,  to  suffer  for  our  sake  :  and,  as  God  he  gives  his 
suffe  rings  an  infinite  price. 


I  remain,  &c. 

ARTHUR  O'LEARY. 


28  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 


LETTER  IV. 


Sir, 


IN  the  preceding  letters,  we  have  touched  upon  the 
weakness  of"  reason,  and  the  necessity  of  revealed  religion  ; 
the  obscurity  in  which  mortals  were  involved,  and  the  incon- 
gruity of  denying  religious  mysteries,  when  the  book  of  na- 
ture, open  to  our  eyes,  is  scarce  legible ;  our  fall  in  Adam, 
and  our  restoration  in  Christ. 

It  is  now  time  to  examine  your  opinion  concerning  the 
soul  of  man:  an  opinion  which  you  deliver  in  the  seventy- 
second  page  of  your  work,  in  these  words  :  '  Hence,  I  con- 
'  elude  that  the  soul  dies  with  the  body.  It  is  an  opinion 
'  conformable  to  reason,  observation,  and  to  the  doctrine 
*  taught  by  Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles.'  Whatever  argu- 
ments you  might  have  drawn  from  observation,  you  should 
have  passed  over  the  authority  of  Christ  and  his  apostles ; 
an  authority  never  adduced  before  in  support  of  a  doctrine 
which  in  every  page  they  condemn.  Or,  at  least,  you  should 
have  first  a  bible  of  your  own,  and  forced  it  on  the  world,  as 
handed  to  you  by  the  angel  Gabriel. 

Man  must  certainly  be  liable  to  error,  when,  in  the  blaze 
of  revelation,  and  after  the  progress  philosophy  has  made  in 
the  world,  he  still  cries  out,  with  the  disciple  Epicurus  : 

'  We  know  not  yet  how  our  soul's  proi'uc'd, 
'  Whether  by  body  born,  or  else  iufns'd  • 
'  Whether  in  death,  breath'd  out  into  the  air, 
4  She  doth  coufus'dly  mix  and  perish  there, 
'  Or  through  vast  shades  and  horrid  silence  g-o, 
'  To  visit  brimstone  caves  and  pools  below.'* 

Your  observation  must  be  quite  different  from  the  obser- 
vations of  the  greatest  men  the  faculty  of  physic  ever  pro- 
duced :  men  who  were,  and  are  still,  as  great  ornaments  to 
the  literary  world,  as  they  are  useful  to  mankind. 

We  observe,  sir,  within  ourselves,  a  principle  that  is 
obeyed  as  a  sovereign  ;  that  now  finds  fault  with  what  it  be- 
fore approved  ;  that  covets  with  passion  what  it  despises  after 

*  Creech's  Lucretius,  Book  1. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  20 

enjoying;  and  now  rejoices  and  then  mourns;  that  reasons 
and  judges.  I  consult  my  reason  ;  and  it  informs  me,  that 
this  principle,  so  noble,  and,  at  the  same  time,  so  liable  to 
such  conflicting  agitations,  cannot  be  a  particle  of  matter, 
round  or  square,  red  or  blue  ;  a  volatized  vapour  dissolvable 
into  air;  a  contexture  of  atoms  interwoven  or  separated  by 
a  sportive  brain. 

My  reason  informs  me,  that  a  being,  capable  to  take  in  hands 
the  government  of  a  vast  empire;  to  form  projects,  the  suc- 
cess whereof  depends  on  an  infinity  of  different  springs,  whose 
motions  and  accords  must  be  studied  and  combined,  is  some- 
thing mere  than  a  little  subtilized  mud. 

I  observe  matter  with  all  its  mutations  and  refinements ; 
and  I  perceive  nothing  but  extension,  divisibility,  figure,  and 
motion. 

My  reason  tells  me,  that  the  combinations  of  the  different 
particles  of  matter,  let  their  velocity  be  ever  so  great,  can 
never  reveal  the  sacred  mysteries  of  faith  ;  the  holy  rules  of 
equity ;  the  ideas  of  piety,  order,  and  justice. 

Moreover,  reason  informs  us,  that  matter  is  indifferent  to 
motion  or  rest,  to  this  or  that  situation.  When  moved  in 
any  direction,  the  smallest  particle  of  any  body  or  mass  of 
matter,  must  yield  to  the  motion  of  the  whole.  On  the  other 
hand,  in  our  temptations  and  struggles,  amidst  the  solicita- 
tions of  sense,  and  the  cravings  of  appetite,  we  can  say  with 
St.  Paul,  that  we  feel  an  interior  conflict  and  two  opposite 
laws  in  ourselves :  *  the  law  of  the  body  warring  against  the 
'  law  of  the  mind,  and  attempting  to  captivate  us  to  the  law 
'  of  sin.'  Under  the  inconvenience  of  such  struggles  and 
conflicts,  a  part  of  ourselves  still  remains  the  directing  prin- 
ciple, always  asserting  its  rights,  and  constantly  supporting 
its  native  title  to  dominion. 

Reconcile,  if  you  can,  to  the  laws  of  mechanism,  to  the 
cohesion  of  atoms,  and  to  the  motions  of  particles  of  matter, 
the  infinite  capacity  of  the  soul,  its  strong  desires  after  im- 
mortality, its  power  to  infer  conclusions  from  principles,  in 
mathematical  demonstrations,  and  logical  arguments;  its 
arbitrary  and  voluntary  determinations,  this  shifting  and 
changing,  those  strange  and  sudden  returns,  reflections,  and 
transitions  in  thought,  which,  by  experience,  we  find  it  in 
©ur  power  to  make. 


30  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

We  all  agree,  that  matter  touches  in  contact,  and  that 
whatever  moves,  is  put  in  motion  by  another.  We  know, 
on  the  other  hand,  that,  in  reasoning,  argumentations,  de- 
monstrations, &c.  wherein  we  infer  one  thing  from  another, 
and  another  thing  from  that  inference,  and  a  third  from 
thence,  and  so  on,  there  is  an  infinity  of  different  modes  of 
thought.  If  those  different  modes  of  thought  be  no  more 
than  the  different  states  of  the  solid,  figured,  divisible  parts 
of  matter,  with  respect  to  velocity  and  direction,  it  is  neces- 
sary that  they  should  have  been  put  into  these  different 
states,  by  the  impulse  of  some  foreign  power. 

If  this  mover,  which  is  the  cause  of  motion,  be  matter,  it 
must  be  moved  or  acted  on  itself:  for  otherwise  it  could  not 
produce  a  change  of  motion  in  other  contiguous  parts  of 
matter.  There  must  still  be  a  mover  prior  to  the  former, 
and  another  prior  to  that,  and  so  on  to  infinity,  in  every 
act  of  reason  and  argumentation.  But  a  progression  to 
infinity  is  discarded  by  all  philosophers,  both  ancient  and 
modern. 

To  spin  out  the  subject  in  metaphysical  arguments,  were 
loss  of  time.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  we  would  contradict  our 
reason,  and  belie  our  hearts,  in  supposing  that  the  troubles, 
agitations,  and  importunate  remorses  we  feel  after  the  com- 
mission of  some  horrid  crime,  the  secret  reproaches  of  a 
guilty  conscience,  which  made  the  Athenian  parricide  cry 
out,  twenty  years  after  having  murdered  his  father,  that  the 
crows  upbraided  him  with  his  death  :  we  would,  1  say,  only 
belie  our  hearts,  in  supposing  such  interior  punishments, 
which  tread  in  the  heels  of  guilt,  to  be  no  more  than  an 
assemblage  of  little  atoms,  with  hooked  or  rough  surfaces. 
In  supposing  that  patience  and  resignation  in  our  afflictions, 
from  an  expectation  of  immortality  and  the  spiritual  joys  of 
future  bliss,  the  distant  reward  of  our  trials,  are  the  result  of 
smooth  atoms  gliding  through  the  brain;  or  that  the  horrors, 
which  haunt  the  guilty,  proceed  from  the  same  cause  which 
produces  a  pain  in  the  head,  back,  or  stomach. 

Further,  under  the  dispensation  of  a  just  and  powerful  God, 
crimes  must  be  punished,  and  virtue  rewarded.  What 
notion  can  we  form  of  a  God,  who  makes  no  distinction  be- 
tween the  wretch  who  strangles  his  father,  in  order  to  take 
possession  of  his  estate,  and  the  just  man  who  is  disposed  to 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  39 

of  all  things  has  ord  .dried  their  acting  in  concert,  during  our 
short  pilgrimage  here  on  earth. 

Ignorance  in  children,  and  stupidity  in  old  people,  arise 
from  the  insertion  of  an  active  and  spiritual  substance  in 
matter  not  fitly  disposed,  and  yet  ordained  to  be  its  organ 
and  instrument.  The  brain  is  too  moist  in  children',  and 
too  dry  in  old  people ;  consequently,  unapt  either  for  the  re- 
ception or  retention  of  the  images  transmitted  from  exterior 
objects;  which  images  or  representations  are  the  materials 
for  the  soul  to  work  on.  The  pencil  cannot  delineate  well, 
if  the  canvas  be  unfit.  Letters  cannot  be  formed  with  nice 
and  delicate  strokes,  if  the  pen  be  bad.  It  is  neither  the 
painter's  nor  writer's  fault,  if  their  skill  does  not  shine  in 
their  respective  performances,  the  defect  originates  in  the 
unaptness  of  the  materials  :  it  is  the  same  case  with  the  soul. 
This  spiritual  and  immortal  substance,  seated  in  the  head, 
as  a  pilot  at  the  helm,  who,  besides  his  innate  skill,  wants 
the  assistance  of  the  sails  and  rudder,  to  steer  the  un- 
wieldy vessel,  or  as  a  monarch  in  his  palace,  who  has 
none  but  sickly  and  disordered  subjects  to  command,  the 
soul,  I  say,  stands  in  need  of  the  organs  of  the  body,  as 
so  many  ministers  of  sensation,  towards  the  exertions  of 
its  faculties. 

If  I  am  confined  to  a  chamber  that  has  but  one  window, 
I  cannot  see  through  more  than  one.  If  there  be  more, 
I  can  see  through  all.  The  visual  faculty,  in  both  cases, 
is  the  same ;  and  the  difference  consists  in  the  removal  of 
the  obstacles.  Thus,  on  the  loss  of  an  eye  or  limb, 
the  soul  is  neither  blind  or  lame ;  it  is  still  the  same, 
though  its  instrumentality  be  partly  destroyed.  But  if  the 
brain,  whose  inexplicable  folds  and  spacious  palaces  are  tlie 
repositories  of  the  various  images  coming  in  through  their 
respective  avenues  from  exterior  objects,  be  disordered  and 
obstructed  by  drunkenness,  apoplexy,  &c.  the  passages  be- 
come impracticable;  the  canvas  becomes  wrinkled  and  uneven, 
the  glowing  colours  cannot  spread,  the  size  and  attitude  of 
the  figures  are  confounded,  and  all  the  requisites  of  reason- 
ing are  wanting.  Let  the  drunken  man  sleep,  and  the  sick 
man  recover,  'hen  the  obstacles  are  removed,  and  reason  will 
inform  you,  that  the  soul  is  still  the  same. 

If  the  soul,  then,  under  the  inconveniences  of  the  foregoing 


40  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

circumstances  of  drunkenness,  fever,  &c.  still  retains  a  faculty 
or  power  of  perceiving,  reasoning,  and  judging,  to  be  exerted 
when  these  obstacles  are  removed;  how  much  more  capable 
will  it  not  be  of  those  spiritual  functions,  after  its  separation 
from  the  mass  of  clay,  when  disentangled  from  its  fetters,  with 
its  enlargement  from  the  body,  '  it  will  return  to  the  God  who 
'  gave  it!' 

But  you  inform  us,  that  *  God  can  do  any  thing  that  does 
'  not  imply  a  contradiction  :'  and  that,  '  by  an  infinite  power, 
*  he  can  add  thought  to  matter.' 

But,  Sir,  must  not  a  man  be  very  sanguine  in  the  cause 
of  scepticism,  and  eager  to  work  himself  into  incredulity, 
when  he  has  recourse  to  infinite  power,  sooner  than  admit  a 
spiritual  soul?  If  God  can  add  thought  to  matter,  why  deny, 
in  a  peremptory  manner,  the  possibility  of  uniting  spirit  to 
body  ?  Locke  acknowledges  the  possibility  of  adding  thought 
to  matter,  to  the  great  comfort  of  our  modern  free-thinkers  ; 
but  still  he  acknowledges  his  soul  to  be  spiritual  and  im- 
mortal. 

No  unhappy  comfort  can  then  arise  to  those  whose  greatest 
joy  would  consist  in  being  a  lump  of  animated  earth,  from 
Locke's  opinion :  for  God  can  do  several  things  which  he 
will  never  perform .  He  never  will  animate  a  stone,  or 
tree ;  and  cover  them  with  flesh,  susceptible  of  passions, 
and  willing  to  gratify  them  ;  give  them  the  organs  of  speech, 
and  thtis  introduce  on  the  stage  of  life,  a  set  of  dogmatizing 
philosophers,  who  will  glory  in  being  the  brothers  of 
plants  and  mushrooms :  as  Bisas,  the  philosopher,  said  of 
the  Athenians,  who  gloried  in  being  originally  sprung  from 
the  earth. 

Sound  logic  does  not  allow  to  argue  from  possibility  to 
fact ;  and,  though  every  respect  is  due  to  Locke's  authority, 
yet  his  possibility  of  thinking  matter ,  and  others  of  his  hypo- 
theses, are  objected  to,  by  the  learned.  Nor  has  he  any  room 
to  complain,  if  the  world  does  not  pay  him  the  same  implicit 
obedience  which  the  disciples  ot  Pythagoras  paid  their 
master,  for  several  great  mathematicians  and  metaphysicians 
consider,  as  very  possible,  systems  which  Locke  rejects,  as 
contradictions. 

We  cannot  account  for  the  operations  of  the  soul,  upon 
the  principles  of  mechanism.     We  kuow  that  the  motions  of 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  41 

parts,  and  the  artful  manner  of  combining  them,  can  produce 
nothing  but  an  artful  structure,  and  various  modes  of  motion. 
Hence,  all  machines,  however  artfully  their  parts  are  put  to- 
gether, and  however  complicated  their  structure,  though  we 
conceive  innumerable  different  motions  variously  combined, 
and  running  into  one  another,  with  an  endless  variety,  yet 
never  produce  any  thing  but  figure  and  motion.  Much  less 
can  we  account  for  our  mental  operations,  from  the  proper- 
ties of  matter.  Lucretius  and  his  followers  may  employ  their 
plastic  powers  in  forming  a  soul  composed  of  particles  of  air, 
firt,  vapour,  and  a  fourth  something  which  that  poet  does  not 
describe. 

They  will  acknowledge,  that  none  of  those  elementary  par- 
ticles, separate  from  the  rest,  can  think  ;  but  that,  from 
their  mixture  and  collision,  thought  results  ;  which  they 
attempt  to  prove  by  the  example  of  the  tree  and  the  earth, 
neidier  of  which  produces  fruit  in  a  separate  state.  But 
it  is  obvious,  that  the  tree  contains  in  itself  the  seed  of  the 
fruit,  which  the  earth  stirs  and  developes;  and,  to  give 
justness  to  the  comparison,  by  the  same  rule,  either  the  fire 
or  air  should  contain  in  itself  the  origin  of  thought,  which  is 
an  absurdity. 

If  you  admit,  that  God  can  superadd  thought  to  matter, 
this  thought,  then,  must  be  a  quality  superior  to  matter, 
and,  consequently,  distinct  from  it.  Then  the  contradiction 
is  palpable,  for  it  will  follow,  that  it  is  matter  and  not  matter 
at  the  same  time. 

As  to  the  brutes,  become  of  late  the  subjects  of  philosophi- 
cal panegyric,  that  raises  them  to  an  equality  with  man,  we 
like  them  for  the  service  or  diversion  they  afford  us  ;  but,  less 
virtuous  than  our  philosophers,  we  have  not  humility  to  wish 
to  be  on  a  level  with  them.  Pity  our  pride  and  ignorance, 
great  oracles,  who  revile  the  Christians  and  extol  the  cun- 
ning of  the  fox,  the  imitative  powers  of  the  ape,  the  archi- 
tecture of  the  beaver,  and  the  provident  foresight  of  the 
ant. 

Since  you  believe  them  of  the  same  nature  with  your- 
selves, why  do  you  not  arraign  the  cruelty  of  the  magis- 
trates, under  whose  eyes  so  many  murders  are  daily  com- 
mitted on  your  brethren  ?     For  if  man  and  the  brute  be  of 


4fc  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

the  same  nature,  why  should  beasts  be  killed  with  impunity, 
whilst  the  assassin  is  doomed  to  the  gibbet?  The  question 
may  seem  childish;  yet  your  refined  philosophy  is  humbly 
requested  to  give  a  solid  answer.  Your  Catechism  can  illus- 
trate the  subject. 


THE 


FREE-THINKER'S  CATECHISM  ; 

Faithfully  collected  from   some    of  the    most    celebrated 
Free- thinkers  of  this  Age. 

Question.  Who  made  man  ? 

Answer.  Nothing. 

Q.   How  did  he  come  into  the  world? 

A.  He  sprung  out  of  the  earth,  spontaneously,  as  « 
mushroom.* 

Q.  The  souls  of  men  and  brutes,  are  they  of  the  same 
nature  ? 

A.  Yes.f 

Q.  What  difference,  then,  is  there  between  man  and  the 
brute  ? 

A.  Man  is  a  more  multiplied  animal,  with  hands  and  flexi- 
ble fingers,  The  paws  and  feet  of  other  animals  are 
covered,  at  the  extremities,  with  a  horny  substance;  or 
terminate  in  claws  or  talons.J 

Q.  Our  superiority  over  the  brute  creation,  in  arts,  sci- 
ences, modesty,  civilization,  is,  then,  owing  to  our  hands; 
and  fingers,  not  to  any  innate  principle  of  reason  ? 

A.  Doubtless. 

Q.  But  the  apes,  whose  paws  are  much  like  ours,  why 
have  not  they  made  the  same  progress  ? 

*  Voltaire  on  the  population  of  America. 

+  Servetus  of  Cork^ 

J  Helvetius,  livie  de  l'Esprit,  p.  233. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACT*.  43 

A.  Apes  live  on  fruits:  and  being,  like  children, in  perpe- 
tual motion,  th*  y  are  not  susceptible  of  that  ennui,  or  of 
wearisomeness,  to  which  we  are  liable.* 

Q.  Is  there  any  virtue  in  worshipping  God,  in  loving 
our  father,  in  serving  our  country,  or  in  relieving  the 
distressed  ? 

A.  No. 

Q.  In  what  light,  then,  are  we  to  consider  virtue  ? 

A.  Cry  out  with  Brutus :  4  O  vertu  tu  ne'es  qu'un  vain 
nom!1     4  O  virtue,  thou  art  but  an  empty  sound  !'t 


Lo,  the  refined  system  introduced  by  those  great  oracles 
of  human  wisdom.  If  the  cannibals,  who  eat  their  ao-ed 
parents,  ever  learn  to  read,  they  will  find  their  justification 
in  your  Catechism. 

Our  philosophers  are  the  great  panegyrists  of  the  instinct 
of  animals,  whilst  they  degrade  the  reason  of  man.     The 
cause  is  obvious ;  in  pointing  out  the  brutes  as  rivals  quali- 
fied to  contend  for  superiority  with  us,  they  can  ar<me  with 
ease  and  satisfaction.     i  All   dies   with    the  brutes :  all  dies 
4  with  man.     Let  us  then  live  as  they  do;  for  our  end  will 
4  be  the  same.'     But  still  this  way  of  reasoning,  how  flatter- 
ing soever  to   sensuality,    cannot  remove  the    perplexing 
doubt;  for  if  the  brute's   soul   be  of  the  same  nature  with 
that  of  man,  then  there   is  no  certainty  that  the  soul  of  the 
brute  dies.     For,   laying  aside  religion,  which  has  decided 
the  question,  'fear  not  those  who  can  kill  the  body,  but  are 
4  not  able  to  kill  the  soul,'  there  is  no   demonstration  that 
the  soul  of  man  dies,  but  every  thing  demonstrates  the  re- 
verse.    To  argue,  then,  with  any  colour  of  reason,  from  the 
brute  to  the  man,  y0u  must  have  a  thorough  conviction  of 
two  things:  first,  that   the  soul  of  the  brute  is  of  the  same 
nature  with  the  soul  of  man;  secondly,  that  the  soul  of  man 
dies.     Neither  can  be  demonstrated,  and  consequently  the 
assistance  which  our  two-footed  philosophers  expect  from  this 
league  and  confederacy,   into  which  they  would  fain  enter 
with  apes  and  four-footed  animals,  for  the  destruction  of  our 
souls,  is  no  more  than  a  broken  reed. 

*  HelveJius,  livre  de  l'Esprit,  p.  3-         f  Ibid.  p.  397, 


44  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

But  you  will  ask  me,  i  in  what  this  instinct  of  the  brutes, 

*  and  the  nature  of  their  souls  consists?'  1  answer,  candidly, 
that  I  know  not.  Some  philosophers  are  of  opinion,  that  the 
brutes  are  meie  machines,  moved  by  some  exterior  agent. 
Others  allow  them  an  inherent  principle  of  life  and  industry. 
To  the  opinion  of  the  latter  I  accede ;  and  believe,  that  what 
we  call  instinct,  is  a  certain  sagacity  and  inclination  given 
them  by  the  Creator  for  their  preservation  and  our  use. — 
But  you,  who  know  the  nature  of  your  own  soul,  which  you 
affirm  to  be  of  the  same  nature  with  that  of  apes  and  foxes, 
can  resolve  the  question. 

ButTon,  the  French  academician,  acknowledges,  that,  in 
the  anatomy  or  dissection  of  apes,  he  could  not  discover  any 
difference  between  their  organs  and  those  of  the  human 
species ;  yet  the  same  BufFon,  in  spite  of  the  similiarity  of 
organs,  admits,  that  the  distance  between  man  and  the  ape 
is  infinite,  on  account  of  thought,  reason,  and  consciousness, 
which  proceed  from  a  spiritual  principle :  and  the  Royal 
Psalmist  recommends  to  us,  not  to  '  resemble  the  horse  and 

*  the  mule,  that  have  no  understanding.'  Our  ignorance  of 
the  nature  of  their  instinct,  souls,  &c.  does  not  imply 
an  ignorance  of  the  nature  of  our  own.  If,  through 
the  veil  of  a  mortal  body,  we  can  know  and  love  our  Maker, 
why  should  we  cease  to  know  him,  when  the  mask  falls,  and 
the  veil  is  removed  ?  If  we  admit  no  annihilation  in 
nature,  and  that  matter,  in  spite  of  its  changes,  never 
perishes,  why  should  we  refuse  the  soul  the  same  privilege  ? 
If  brutes  could  reason,  judge,  abstract,  divide,  compare 
the  rules  of  order,  justice,  good  and  evil,  as  rational  beings 
do,  they  would  not  answer  the  end  of  nature ;  and  what 
has  been  made  for  the  use  of  man,  would  become  his 
destruction. 

By  dint  of  blows  and  other  means,  we  can  train  up  a 
horse  to  point  out  the  hour  on  a  dial;  a  bear  to  dance; 
a  monkey  to  supply  the  place  of  a  postillion;  and  a  dog 
to  move  a  minute.  Several  instances  of  the  sagacity  of 
animals  are  adduced  by  Plutarch  and  others.  But, 
whatever  variety  of  turns  and  motions  they  may  ac- 
quire by  such  a  culture,  it  is  not  to  a  principle  of 
reason,  but  to  the  address  of  their  tutors,  we  are  to 
attribute  it:  for,  however  quick  their  hearing,  how  sagaci- 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  45 

«us  soever  their  Instinct,  it  would  be  vain  to  attempt  instruct- 
ing them  in  the  beauty  of  order,  the  rules  of  justice,  the 
rights  of  society,  the  origin  of  the  world,  the  love  of  their 
Maker,  the  terrors  of  the  last  judgment,  the  pains  of  hell,  or 
the  ineffable  joys  of  a  future  state.  Whoever  doubts  me, 
let  him  try  the  experiment. 

It  is  not  so  with  the  savage  or  child.  They  are  capable 
of  instruction  in  all  those  points,  and  susceptible  of  the  im- 
pressions arising  from  the  notions  of  moral  o-0od  or  moral 
evil. 

Hence,  neither  from  the  sagacity  of  brutes,  nor  the  expe- 
rience of  mankind,  nor  the  observations  of  philosophers  can 
arguments  be  adduced  in  support  of  a  doctrine  tending;  to 
overthrow  the  spirituality  and  immortality  of  the  soul.  And, 
when  you  attribute  the  doctrine  of  the  soul's  immortality  to 
the  subtilty  of  schoolmen,  and  when  Helvetius  fixes  its  first 
introduction  in  Nero's  time,  when  the  Gospel  was  preached 
at  Rome,*  we  cannot  arraign  either  you  or  him  for  igno- 
rance, as  both  are  well  read;  but  we  charge  you  with 
wilful  imposition,  which  is  worse. 

Scattered  sparks  of  the  soul's  immortality  are  to  be  found 
in  the  Old  Testament.  Resurrection,  judgment,  the  rewards 
and  punishments  of  a  future  life,  are  mentioned  by  the  in- 
spired writers,  long  before  the  introduction  of  the  Gospel,  or 
Hesiod's  theogony.  Pythagoras  taught  the  metempsychosis, 
or  transmigration  of  souls,  long  before  Seneca  taught  Nero 
to  declaim.  Even  ancient  errors  shew  how  ancient  was  the 
belief  of  the  soul's  immortality;  and  demonstrate,  that  it  is 
to  be  ranked  amongst  the  first  traditions  of  mankind.  Did 
not  almost  all  men  sacrifice  to  the  manes,  that  is,  to  the  souls 
of  the  dead?  From  one  extremity  of  the  world  to  the  other, 
people  of  different  humours,  countries,  worship  and  interest, 
agree  in  this  important  article  of  immortality.  It  is  no  col- 
lusion; for  a  general  association  of  mankind  could  never  be 
formed  :  nor  a  prejudice  of  education,  for  manners,  customs, 
and  education,  are  different  in  different  nations.  This  notion 
of  immortality  is  common  to  all :  remote  isles,  and  foreign 
nations  figured  to  themselves  shades  and  climes,  through 
which  the  roving  spirit  was  to  travel,  after  its  separation  from 
fhe   body.     Hence   the   custom    of  killing   wives    and    of- 

*  Helvetius,  Uvre  de  l'Espn't, 


46  MISCELLANEOUS    fRACTS, 

ficers,  at  the  death  of  their  kings;  lest  the  royal  ghost 
should  travel  without  attendants.  This  several  nations 
practised,  and  the  Indians,  distinguished  by  pagan  authors, 
amongst  the  assertors  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  were 
also  the  first  that  introduced  those  horrid  murders  upon 
earth,  which  they  practise  to  this  very  day.  Nature,  then, 
taught  the  soul's  immortality,  without  a  monitor ;  or 
rather,  the  Almighty  has  stamped  its  notion  on  our  ex- 
istence; and  savage  people,  in  forgetting  God,  could  not 
forget  themselves. 

There  are  still  some  religious,  as  well  as  philoso- 
phical paradoxes  in  your  writings,  besides  the  capital 
errors  already  mentioned,  I  have  not  leisure  to  examine 
them  all. 

You  say,  that,  *  from  the  continual  waste  of  mould, 
4  washed  away  by  the  rain,  the  animal  world  will  become  ex- 
1  tinct,  for  want  of  food.'  This,  I  suppose,  is  advanced  with 
a  design  to  invalidate  the  oracles  which  foretel  the  world's 
dissolution  by  fire.  A  prodigious  quantity  of  the  liquid 
element  is  wasted  in  watering  fields,  woods,  &c.  Doctor 
Halley  is  of  opinion,  that  the  Mediterranean  loses  in 
vapour,  five  thousand,  five  hundred,  and  eighty  millions 
of  tons,  in  a  day  ;  and  receives  but  one  thousand,  eight 
hundred,  and  twenty-seven,  from  rivers:  so  that  it  would 
soon  be  drained,  unless  a  great  quantity  returned  in  dew 
and  rain  upon  it. 

It  seems,  then,  to  me,  that  the  animal  world  will  be  extinct 
for  want  of  drink :  but  a  greater  prophet  than  either  of  us, 
foretold  the  world's  dissolution  by  fervent  heat. 

You  argue  against  the  Chinese  antiquities,  from  the  waste 
of  mould:  by  the  same  rule,  you  can  argue  against  Moses' 
account  of  the  creation.  But,  to  argue  against  the  an- 
tiquities of  any  nation,  from  the  waste  of  mould,  is  nothing 
better  than  the  waste  of  time.  The  European  missionaries 
convinced  the  Chinese  of  their  error,  by  reckoning  the 
eclipses  of  the  sun,  in  a  conference  with  their  learned  men, 
when  the  emperor  of  Tartary  became  master  of  China.  It 
was  the  surest  method,  and  that  by  which  Callisthenes 
baffled  the  pretended  antiquity  of  the  Babylonians,  when 
Alexander  took  their  city. 

If  Moses  be  an  allegorical  writer,  it  is  hard,  '  from  the 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  47 

*  waste  of  mould,'  to  determine  when  the  Alps  emerged 
from  the  chaos. 

You  are  of  opinion,  that,   before  the  deluge,  l  none  but 

*  giants  inhabited  the  earth.'  Before  the  deluge  the  world 
had  its  Davids  and  Goliahs,  its  Fionnmacools  and  Ushions. — 
Moses  talks  of  giants,  as  rarities :  '  in  them  days,  there 
4  were  giants  on  the  earth.'  A  rarity  is  an  exception  to 
the  general  rule,  and  supposes  a  more  extensive  class  of 
beings. 

The  longevity  of  the  antediluvians  can  be  ascribed  to  two 
causes :  the  one  supernatural,  in  order  to  perpetuate  re- 
ligion, and  give  the  aged  patriarchs  time  to  instil  it  into  the 
minds  of  their  spreading  generations:  the  other  natural, 
viz.  their  sobriety,  the  simplicity  of  their  diet,  the  salubrity 
of  the  air,  not  corrupted  by  the  noxious  vapours  which  rose 
from  the  earth,  after  the  flood,  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  &c. 
You  know  the  state  of  the  world,  before  the  deluge  so  well, 
that  you  fix  4  the  age  of  puberty  at  the  age  of  sixty-five.'  I 
believe  that  procreation  began,  before  the  deluge,  as  early 
as  at  present.  Or  else,  they  must  have  been  monstrous 
babes  that  were  at  the  breast,  and  fed  with  spoon-meat,  at 
the  age  of  twenty.  By  the  rules  of  analogy,  we  may  judge 
of  their  nubile  state,  by  the  tall  Prussian,  and  low  Lap- 
lander. The  size  is  disproportionate :  but  the  age  for  mar- 
rying is  the  same  in  both. 

You  deny  any  confusion  of  tongues  at  the  dispersion ; 
because  what  has  been  translated  language,  signifies  lip,  in 
Hebrew.  Sometimes  it  does,  but  the  addition  of  speech 
signifies  something  more.    *  And  the  whole  earth  was  of  one 

*  language,  and  of  one  speech.'*  And  what  is  here  trans- 
lated speech,  signifies  words,  in  the  original  Hebrew. 

You  deny  that  there  were  any  propitiatory  sacrifices. 
There  are  sin-offerings,  notwithstanding,  mentioned  in  the 
Scriptures,  4  for  the  bodies  of  those  beasts,  whose  blood  for 
4  sin  is  brought  into  the  sanctuary,  by  the  high  priest,  are 

*  burnt  without  the  camp.  In  proof  of  your  opinion,  you 
4  mention,  Pythagoras's  hecatomb  for  being  able  to  prove 

*  the  properties  of  a  right-angled  triangle;  Jephtah,s  offer* 
4  ing   up  his    daughter;    Baal's   priests  cutting   themseives 

*  with  knives,'  to   propitiate  their  god;  and,  to  crown  all, 

*  Genesis,  chap,  ii, 
H 


48  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

you  assert,  that  the  God    of  Israel  changed  sides,   when 
the  king  of  Moab  sacrificed  his  son  on   the  walls    of  his 

But,  Sir,  were  not  sacrifices  instituted  by  the  Almighty 
God?  Why  should  his  holy  rites  and  ceremonies  be  set  on  a 
level  with  heathen  profanations,  Baal's  priests,  and  Pytha- 
goras's  idols  ?  A  sacrifice  is  the  oblation  of  a  sensible  thing, 
by  a  lawful  minister,  in  honour  of  the  divinity,  in  acknow- 
ledgment of  his  supreme  power  over  life  and  death.  Not 
only  human  victims  were  interdicted  by  the  law,  but  even 
several  animals;  such  as  asses,  hares,  &c.  Hence,  Jephtah's 
sacrifice,  if  he  killed  his  daughter,  was  a  cruel  murder;  he 
was  no  fit  priest;  his  daughter  was  no  fit  victim;  and  God 
cannot  be  honoured  by  a  breach  of  his  own  law. 
.  I  say,  '  if  he  killed  his  daughter,'  because,  in  the  original 
Hebrew,  it  may  as  well  signify,  '  devoted  to  the  Lord  ? 
meaning  that  he  devoted  her  to  perpetual  chastity:  as 
several  modern  critics  explain  it,  and  as  it  seems  to  be 
the  case.  For,  inspired  as  he  was,  it  is  not  to  be  presumed 
that  he  was  guilty  of  such  a  fatal  mistake:  and  St.  Paul 
reckons  him  amongst  the  worthies  who,  by  faith,  obtained 
the  promised  reward. 

How,  then,  could  the  God  of  Israel  '  change  sides,'  by 
relishing  the  profane  vapours  of  idolatrous  blood,  smoaking, 
not  in  his  honour,  but  in  honour  of  the  idols  of  the  Moabites  ? 
The  text  you  quote,  ;  and  there  was  great  indignation 
4  against  Israel,'  proves  no  more,  than  that  the  confederate 
kings  were  angry  with  themselves  for  having  forced  the 
unhappy  father  to  plunge,  as  it  were,  the  dagger  in  his 
own  bowels,  in  the  person  of  his  son. 

When,  to  deny  propitiatory  sacrifices,  you  say,  that 
4  God  cannot  be  bribed  or  flattered,'  I  agree  with  you:  but, 
you  would  not  controul  his  power,  nor  contest  his  authority, 
to  impose  laws  and  obligations  on  his  creatures  ;  to  annex 
to  the  observance  and  infraction  of  those  laws,  rewards  and 
punishments ;  to  require  their  submission  by  visible  symbols : 
in  the  victim  stretched  and  bound  on  the  altar,  to  remind 
them  of  the  chains  of  sin,  and  of  their  state  under  their 
Creators  hand,  who,  each  instant,  can  deprive  them  of  their 
lives;  in  the  sable  sinoak  rolling  from  the  blazing  holocaust, 

*  2  Kings,  chap.  iii. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  49 

to  moke  thern  perceive  a  raj  of  hope,  directing  their  eves 
to  a  distant  victim,  the  effusion  of  whose  blood  was  lo  quench, 
one  day,  more  active  flames,  and  to  change  this  scene  of 
carnage  and  misery,  into  means  of  expiation;  not  indeed  by 
the  virtue  and  efficacy  of  the  sacrifices  in  themselves,  but  in- 
asmuch as  they  typified  the  immolation  of  4  the  Lamb  that 
'  is  slain  from  the  foundations  of  the  world,'  in  the  observance 
of  whose  law,  and  in  the  love  and  knowledge  of  whose 
person,  consists  eternal  life.  Age,  a  variety  of  accidents, 
and  the  uncertainty  of  death,  press  our  return  to  a  merciful 
Redeemer.  It  is  too  late  to  dispute  with  Jesus  Christ  his 
divinity,  or  with  the  soul  its  immortality,  when  the  spirit  is 
arraigned  at  the  awful  tribunal  of  the  Judge  of  the  living 
le  dead. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be, 

Your  affectionate  servant, 

ARTHUR  O'LEARY. 


and  the 


LOYALTY  ASSERTED, 


OR   THE 


NEW  TEST  OATH  VINDICATED, 

And  proved  by  the  Principles  of  the  Canon  and  Civil  Laws,  and 

the  Authority  of  the  most  eminent  Writers. ..With  an 

'Enquiry  into  the  Pope's  deposing  Power, 

and  the  groundless  Claims  of  the 

Stuarts,  fyc.  fyc.  fyc. 


IN  A  LETTER  TO  A  PROTESTANT  GENTLEMAN. 

— ^©^>- 

'  Duo  sunt,  Iinperator  Aug-uste,  auctoritas  sacra 
'  Pontificnin,  et  regalis  potestas.' 

Gelasius,  in  eplst.  ad  Anastasiuot. 

Sir, 

Notwithstanding  newspaper  declamations,  and  the  very 
heavy  charges  brought  against  popery,  you  are  candid 
enough  to  tell  me,  that  '  you  do  not  look  on  my  profession 
<  as  an  imputation  so  dangerous  that  it  entirely  destroys  all 
4  correspondence.'  You  are  not  mistaken  in  your  conjec- 
tures. However  we  may  differ  in  belief,  you  hare  nothing 
to  apprehend;  as  speculative  tenets  do  not  interfere  with 
the  duties  of  civil  life,  and  that  my  practical  doctrine 
tends  more  to  improve,  than  corrupt  the  heart. 

We  have  been  school-fellows,  and  well  united.  We  have 
met  in  foreign  kingdoms,  and  the  remembrance  of  an  early 
acquaintance  has  cemented  our  friendship  anew.  We  are 
restored  once  more  to  our  native  isle,  floating  in  an  ocean 
of  politics,  and  exhibiting  as  great  a  variety  of  religions, 
opinions,  and  sentiments,  as  you  have  seen  curiosities  at  the 
fair  of  St.  Ovid's  in  Paris. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  51 

What  party  shall  we  side  ?  What  plan  shall  we  pursue  ? 
If  we  treat  as  enemies  all  those  whose  persuasion  is  diffe- 
rent from  ours,  the  number  of  our  friends  will  be  but  small. 
Let  us  then  be  retainers  to  Dean  Swift's  doctrine.  Let  the 
Christians  agree  in  the  points  allowed  on  all  sides,  as  much 
as  they  differ  with  regard  to  private  opinions,  and  dissen- 
tions  shall  be  soon  at  an  end.  They  all  agree,  that  the  first 
of  their  laws,  is  a  law  of  eternal  love,  expanding  into  sen- 
timents of  benevolence,  and  teaching  its  votaries  to  return 
affection  for  hatred,  and  good  for  evil :  that  it  is  a  divine 
legacy  bequeathed  by  their  common  Redeemer  to  his  fol- 
lowers ;  and  that  Christians,  cemented  together  by  the  blood 
of  a  God,  should  never  be  divided. 

This  is  a  point  of  doctrine  liable  to  no  controversy.  Oh  ! 
could  it  be  enforced  on  the  mind,  factions  would  soon 
expire,  and  charity  ascend  the  throne,  holding  broils, 
dissentions,  slanders,  calumnies  at  her  feet,  as  so  many 
captives  in  chains. 

'  Toleration  in  a  Popish  priest !'  if  by  toleration  is 
meant  indifference  as  to  religion,  God  forbid !  In  this 
sense  it  implies  an  error;  and  though  it  makes  a  great 
figure  in  the  disputes  among  divines,  yet  in  two  words 
we  can  ascertain  its  degrees  and  measures.  Let  us 
never  tolerate  error  in  ourselves :  let  us  pity  it  in  our  neigh' 
bours.  '  Detest  the  error,'  says  St.  Augustine,  '  but  love  the 
*  man.'  For  in  the  conflict  of  different  opinions  that  will 
divide  the  world  to  the  end  of  time,  Christian  charity  still 
asserts  her  prerogatives.  Her  oily  balsam  heals  the  ranking 
ulcer  caused  by  a  religious  inflammation,  and  attenuates  the 
black  and  viscous  humours,  which  so  often  degenerate  into 
an  evangelical  spleen. 

But,  if  by  toleration  we  mean  impunity,  safety,  and  pro- 
tection granted  by  the  state,  to  every  sect  that  does  not 
maintain  doctrines  inconsistent  with  the  public  peace,  the 
rights  of  sovereigns,  and  the  safety  of  our  neighbour,  to 
such  a  toleration  I  give  my  patronacy  ;  and  expect  that  the 
following  proofs  of  the  articles  of  the  test,  will  evince  the 
justness  of  entitling  the  Roman  Catholics  to  the  lenity  of 
government,  and  the  confidence  of  their  fellow-subjects. 


52  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 


THE 


OATH  OF  ALLEGIANCE. 

ART.  I. 

*  I,  A.  B.  do  take  Almighty  God  to  witness,  that  I  will  be 
4  faithful  and  bear  true  allegiance  to  our  most  gracious  So- 
'  vereign  Lord,  King  George  the  Third,  and  him  will  de- 

*  fend  to  the  utmost  of  my  power,  against  all  conspiracies 

*  and  attempts  whatever,   that  shall  be  made  against  his 
'  person,  crown  and  dignity.' 

Although  I  should  never  swear  any  allegiance  in  form,  yet 
there  is  an  original  and  natural  allegiance  from  subject  to 
king ;  a  debt  that  forbids  all  conspiracies  and  treasonable 
practices  '  against  his  person,  crown,  and  dignity.'  At  my 
birth  I  was  under  his  protection ;  and  in  a  tender  infancy, 
when  I  could  not  protect  myself,  I  was  shielded  by  his  name. 
His  tribunals  are  still  open  to  secure  my  life  and  liberty; 
and  as  there  is  an  implied  contract  between  king  and  sub- 
ject, my  oath  does  not  change  the  nature  of  my  obligations. 
It  only  strengthens  the  civil  band  by  the  tie  of  religion,  and 
superadds  to  treason  the  guilt  of  perjury  in  the  transgressors. 
This  obligation  is  corroborated  by  the  positive  injunctions 
of  the  Scripture,  enforcing  obedience  to  the  prince  whose 
image  is  stamped  on  his  coin,  and  grounded  on  the  laws  of 
the  nation,  which,  from  the  earliest  periods,  have  transferred 
the  subject's  allegiance  to  the  king,  for  the  time  being,  and 
declared  it  high  treason  in  a  subject  to  attempt  any  thing 
even  against  an  usurper,  while  he  is  in  full  possession  of  the 
sovereignty.  This  the  laws  have  wisely  ordained,  in  order 
to  prevent  anarchy  and  confusion ;  because  the  common  peo- 
ple cannot  judge  of  the  king's  title.  But  here  I  thrust  my 
sickle  into  the  civilian's  field;  though  in  the  end,  oaths  of 
allegiance  should  be  determined  by  the  laws  and  maxims  of 
the  realm,  as  well  as  by  principles  of  divinity.*  Further,  let 

*  Vide  Blackstone's  Commentaries,  book  I.    chap.   10.     Cooke,   3  Inst.  7.      Kel. 
rep.  15. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  53 

it  be  remarked,  that  the  foundation  of  this  decision  has  been 
laid  in  Catholic  times ;  and  that  in  applying  it  to  the  actual 
circumstances,  1  do  not  mean  to  distinguish  between  right 
and  fact  in  our  most  gracious  Sovereign.  I  only  argue  a 
minpri  ad  majus,  to  shew  the  guilt  of  attempting  any  thing 
against  a  lawful  Sovereign,  whereas  it  is  high  treason  to  con- 
spire  against  an  usurper. 

The  famous  distinction  between  ircx  dejuref  and  i  rex  de 
facto?  how  interesting  soever  in  the  times  of  the  contending 
families  of  York  and  Lancaster,  James  II.  and  William  III. 
is  now  of  as  much  importance  as  this  great  question,  so 
warmly  debated  among  our  grave  moralists  :  '  Who  is  hap- 
'  pier,  a  king  awake,  or  a  cobler  asleep,  who  dreams  that  he 
;  is  a  king  ?'  I  do  not  choose  to  disturb  the  rest  of  sleeping 
monarchs,  and  whoever  has  a  relish  for  dreams,  lias  my  con- 
sent, though  I  like  more  solid  food. 

ART.  II. 

*  AND  I  do  faithfully  promise  to  maintain,  support,  and  de- 
4  fend,  to  the  utmost  of  my  power,  the  succession  of  the 
4  throne,  in  his  Majesty's  family,  against  anv  person  or 
i  persons  whatsoever.' 

Any  thing  that  does  not  clash  with  the  laws  of  God,  what- 
ever is  conducive  to  the  public  good,  and  has  for  its  imme- 
diate object,  the  peace  of  society,  and  aioidance  of  bloodshed, 
civil  wars,  and  public  calamities,  can  be  safely  sworn  to, 
and  the  object  of  a  lawful  oath;  but  such  is  the  nature  of  the 
second  article  of  the  test,  which,  according  to  the  wise  laws 
of  a  nation  wherein  the  crown  is  hereditary  in  the  wearer, 
equally  guards  against  revolutions  so  frequent  in  despotic 
states,  and  elective  kingdoms.  In  the  first,  the  prince 
names  his  successor;  and,  as  others  may  think  themselves 
injured  by  such  a  partial  preference,  the  throne  is  as  totter- 
ing as  the  succession  is  arbitrary.  Witness  the  history  of  the 
oriental  nations. 

In  elective  kingdoms,  corruption,  violence,  and  bribery 
precede  the  coronation  :  bloodshed  and  misery  are  the  con- 
sequeuces.  Poland  is  no  more,  because  there  have  been 
many  candidates,  but  no  heir  to  the   throne.     Her  liberum 


54  MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS. 

veto,  or  charter  of  unbounded  liberty  to  oppose  the  king, 
has  aided  Prussia  and  Austria  in  riveting  her  chains.  Here 
we  know  our  king  from  his  cradle.  The  object  of  our  ho- 
mage depends  not  on  the  caprice  of  a  father,  nor  on  the  am- 
bition of  the  nobles.  It  is  determined  by  the  law.  As  our 
king  never  dies,  we  are  exposed  to  no  revolutions  by  the 
choice  of  a  successor.  '  The  order  of  succession  is,  in  mo- 
narchies, founded  on  the  welfare  of  the  state  :  it  is  not 
'  fixed  for  the  reigning  family  ;  but  because  it  is  the  interest 
'  of  the  state,  that  it  should  have  a  reigning  family.,'* 

ART.  III. 

*  HEREBY  utterly  abjuring  any  allegiance  or  obedience 

'  unto  the  person  taking  upon  himself  the  style  and  title 
'of  Prince  of  Wales  in  the  life-time  of  his  father,  and 
*  who,  since  his  death,  is  said  to  have  assumed  the  style 
'and  title  of  King  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  by  the 
'name  of  Charies  the  Third,  and  to  any  othtr  person 
'  claiming  or  pretending  a  right  to  the  crown  of  these 
'  realms.' 

The  proofs  of  this  article  may  be  seen  in  the  explanation 
of  the  first.  '  It  is  impossible  to  serve  two  masters.'  Alle- 
giance is  due  to  the  reigning  sovereign,  and  from  the  earliest 
times,  to  him  alone.  In  whose  name  is  justice  administered  ? 
'In  the  name  of  George  the  Third.'  In  whose  name  are 
we  protected  from  the  midnight  robber  ?     '  In  the  name  of 

*  George  the  Third,'  &c  &c. 

Now,  Sir,  I  must  entreat  your  patience.  You  know,  that 
in  all  parliamentary  debates  on  the  oppressive  operation  of 
the  penal  laws,  the  Stuarts  are  the  greatest  obstacle  in  the 
Catholic  way  to  a  legal  indulgence.  They  are  considered 
by  some  of  the  illustrious  .  members,  as  the  polar  star  by 
which  we  expect  to  steer  one  day  into  a  haven  of  safety  and 
deliverance  ;  whilst  we  ourselves  look  on  them  as  planets  of 
a  malific  influence. 

"  Aut  Sinus  ardor, 
"Ille  sitiin  inorbosque  ferens  mortalibus  aegris, 
"Nascitur,  et  laevo  contristat  liimine  ccelum." 

VlRCIL. 

*  Montesquieu,  Esprit  des  Loix,  vol.  II.  p.  192. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  55 

To  state  the  case,  and  disabuse  gentlemen,  amiable  and 
humane,  in  all  other  respects,  but,  unluckily  for  our  interest, 
too  suspicious  of  a  foreign  attachment,  which  we  absolutely 
disclaim,  let  us  view  the  Stuarts  in  three  respects  :  first,  with 
regard  to  the  obligations  they  have  conferred  on  us  :  second, 
with  regard  to  what  we  expect  from  them  :  third,  with  regard 
to  their  claims  to  the  crown  of  England,  in  quality  of  descen- 
dants of  its  ancient  and  rightful  kings.  If  there  be  no  incen- 
tive to  gratitude  on  our  part,  no  right  to  our  allegiance 
on  theirs,  the  bonds  of  attachment  are  dissolved,  and  the 
great  panegyrists  of  our  love  for  the  Stuart  line,  reduced 
to  the  alternative  of  adopting  the  unreasonable  whim  of  the 
poet: 

*  Amo  te,  Zabede,  sed  nescio  dicere  quare.' 
'  I  love  you,  Charles,  but  I  know  not  why.' 

or  persuading  themselves,  that  love  is  kindled  by  the  flames 
of  tyranny  and  oppression.  The  first  is  absurd,  the  second 
unnatural. 

First,  as  to  our  obligations  to  this  inauspicious  family: 
history  can  inform  you,  that  James  the  First  signalized  his 
generosity  in  our  favour,  by  giving,  under  the  finesse  of 
laws,  six  counties  in  Ulster  to  Scotch  planters.  Hume 
attempts  to  justify  his  countrymen  by  the  following  shift: 
'he  gave  them  arts  and  manufactures  in  exchange.'  The 
cruel  Ahab  was  more  generous  ;  he  offered  real  money  for 
Naboth's  vineyard.  Grateful  souls  !  bless  your  benefactor; 
he  improved  your  minds  at  the  expense  of  your  bodies  ;  and, 
like  your  preachers  in  Lent,  famished  your  flesh  to  fatten  your 
spirit. 

Charles  the  First  ran  the  same  course  with  his  father.  No 
end  of  seizures,  inquisitions,  and  regal  plunder.  Shamed  at 
last  into  desistance  by  the  Irish  parliament,  an  artful  stratagem 
is  devised,  equally  calculated  to  answer  the  ends  of  rapacity, 
and  exculpate  the  monarch.  You  have  read  in  Suetonius, 
how  Tiberius  eluded  the  law  that  prohibited  virgins  to  be  put 
to  death.  A  young  lady  is  arraigned  and  condemned: 
the  emperor  permits  the.  hangman  to  violate  her,  and 
throws  the  blame  on  her  executioner.  Remove  the  scene 
of  action  from  Rome  to  Ireland,  and  in  a  dissimilar  plot, 
the  characters  are  much  the  same.  The  Earl  of  Strafford 
is  named  vicegerent,  and  takes  the  blame  upon  himself: 


56  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

the  king  thanks  him  for  his  seasonable  advice ;    and   Ire- 
land sees  Tiberius  and  Sejanus  revived  in  the  persons  of 
Charles  and    his  favourite.     In  these  two  reigns,  pursuits 
were  not  extended  to  goods  and  chattels  alone.     The  sword 
of  tyranny  reached  to  conscience  itself.     Spiritual  supremacy 
and  religious   uniformity,  were  inforced  with  such  rigour, 
that  according  to  Borlase,  some  of  the  clergy  used  to  hang 
themselves.     A  sarcastic  remark  !  the  falsity  whereof,   was 
more  owing  to    their    constancy,  than  to  the  lenity  ,  of  the 
Stuarts.       Charles  the    Second,    who,    according    to    Lord 
Lyttleton,  could  have  become  as  despotic  a  prince  as  any 
in  Europe,  sets   up  a  sham  court  of  claims,  to  save   the 
appearance  of  justice.     He  confirms  Cromwel's  grants  to  the 
adventurers,  who  followed  the  banners  of  this  regicide,  tinc- 
tured with  the  blood  of  the  royal  martyr,  obliges  his  enemies 
by  the  sacrifice  of  his  defenders,  consents  to  the  special  ex- 
ception of  Irish  Catholics  from  the  general  act  of  indemnity, 
refuses  the  least  assistance  to  Lord  Rochfort,  who  sold  his 
estate  to  support  him  during  his  exile,  and  give  his  sanction 
to  a  ridiculous  law,  declaring  it  high  treason  to  call  the  king 
a  Papist.     Of  ail  the  transgressors  of  this  law,  he   himself 
was  the  most  signal,  whereas  he  was  confessed  and  anointed 
by  a  Benedictine  monk  :  and  the  magistrates  must  have  been 
very  remiss  that  did  not  hang  him  for  contravening  such  an 
important  decree,  prohibiting  to  suspect  for  religion,  a  king 
who  practised  none. 

'  Nee  lex  requior  ulla  est, 

'  Quam  necis  artifices  arte  perire  sua.' 

Ovid. 

However,  the  Irish  Catholics  can  never  sufficiently  thank 
him,  for  not  punishing  with  halter,  gibbet,  and  exenteration, 
a  requiescat  in  pace. 

To  this  long  train  of  Stuart  hostilities,  James  the  Second 
is  the  only  exception.  As  Dissenters  and  Roman  Catholics 
were  equally  disqualified,  he  removed  ail  penal  restraints. — 
Religion  influenced  him,  doubtless.  But  did  not  his  favours 
and  indulgence  extend  to  Scotch  dissenters,  as  well  as  to 
Irish  Catholics  ?  Did  not  the  good  of  the  state,  strengthened 
by  the  affections  and  power  of  its  subjects,  ever  and  always 
weakened  by  their  tepidity  and  indigence,  require  then,  as  it 
does  now,    a  relaxation  of  oppressive  laws  ?     And  was  it 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  57 

not  the  king's  interest,  to  endeavour  to  render  all  his  subjects 
prosperous  and  happy  ?  Did  he  but  proceed  on  a  legal  plan 
with  the  consent  of  his  parliament,  without  arrogating  to  him- 
self a  dispensing  power,  which  the  nation  vests  in  the  aggre- 
gate body  of  king,  lords,  and  commons  ?  But  can  the  conduct 
of  James  the  Second  stand  the  test  ?  Or  must  not  an  Irishman 
be  blind  in  not  perceiving  the  partiality  of  this  cherished  twig 
of  the  Stuart  stem  ? 

Ambition,  or  love  for  their  fellow  subjects^  induces  kings 
to  exchange  the  gaieties  of  a  palace  for  the  fatigues  of  the 
field,  and  to  fly  into  the  arms  of  death,  from  the  bosom  of 
sensuality  and  voluptuousness.  But  more  especially  in  those 
critical  junctures,  when  the  crown  is  at  stake,  and  the  majesty 
of  the  monarch,  on  the  point  of  sinking  into  the  subject,  the 
springs  of  nature  play  with  an  extraordinary  elasticity  ;  the 
radiancy  of  the  throne,  glistening  in  the  monarch's  eyes,  ab- 
sorbs and  eclipses  the  perception  of  danger :  pride  supplies 
the  place  of  valour,  and  despair  metamorphoses  the  coward 
into  the  hero. 

In  the  vicinity  of  an  army  of  thirty  thousand  men,  master 
of  the  strong  holds  and  garrisons  of  his  realms,  at  the  first 
report  of  the  Prince  of  Orange's  arrival  in  England,  James 
the  Second,  with  the  apathy  of  a  Stoic,  or  the  timidity  of  an 
old  woman,  throws  the  royal  seals  into  the  Thames,  disap- 
pears, leaves  three  kingdoms  in  the  utmost  anarchy  and  con- 
fusion, the  reins  of  government  without  a  hand  to  manage 
them,  and  his  subjects  uncertain  to  whom  they  are  to  trans- 
fer their  allegiance. 

Instances  of  the  kind  are  scarce  to  be  met  with  in  the 
chronicles  of  kings;  a  hand  that  would  not  un sheath  a 
sword  in  defence  of  three  realms  is  better  calculated  for 
a  muff  than  a  sceptre.  Queen  Elizabeth,  almost  in  sight 
of  an  army  of  fifty  thousand  Spaniards,  reviews  her  troops, 
rides  through  the  ranks,  animates,  incites,  encourages  her 
men :  '  Behold,  your  queen !  Victorious,  I  shall  reward 
1  you ;  defeated,  I  will  die  with  you.'  But  Buchanan's 
contrast  of  James  the  First  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  is  ap- 
plicable to  James  the  Second. 

Rex  fuii  Elizabeth,  nunc  vero  reg-ina  Jacobus, 
Error  naturas  par  in  utroque  fuit. 


58  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

In  English: 

"  Nature  was    mistaken  in    those  two    extraordinary  productions :    Elizabeth   was 
aa  man:  James  a  woman," 

Recalled  by  Tyrconnel  from  France  to  Ireland,  our 
Alexander  lays  siege  to  Londonderry,  from  whence  he  is 
repelled  by  a  Protestant  minister,  at  the  head  of  a  hand- 
ful of  men  half  famished.  This  was  a  glorious  contest 
between  a  king  and  a  priest :  the  sword  and  the  gown. 
Cedant  anna  toga. 

The  banks  of  the  Boyne  are  quite  as  inauspicious  to  his 
laurels.  Here,  contrary  to  the  advice  of  his  officers,  he 
compels  them  to  encounter  a  formidable  army  of  fifty 
thousand  veterans,  commanded  by  the  ablest  generals  of 
that  age.  Remark  his  orders  and  depositions.  With  a 
select  party  of  his  army  he  places  himself  on  Dunmore  hill, 
out  of  cannon  reach  ;  and  gives  a  strict  charge  to  Sarsfield, 
(Lord  Lucan)  not  to  fire  at  his  son,  who  was  come  sword  in 
hand  to  deprive  him  of  his  crown.  A  boding  omen  of  future 
victory  !  In  battle,  let  a  general  ride  up  and  down  to  animate 
his  troops,  never  fire  into  his  quarters ;  you  will  gain  the  field. 
Seeing  the  Irish,  though  dispirited  by  his  partial  commands, 
and  unanimated  by  his  example,  repel  the  enemy,  and  keep 
the  battle  in  suspense,  he  cries  out,  *  spare  my  English  sub- 
jects, spare  my  English  subjects.'  Lo,  the  most  beloved 
king  of  the  Stuart  race  !  Pious,  and  tender-  hearted,  he  would 
not  have  scrupled  to  re-possess  himself  of  the  throne  at  the 
expence  of  Irish  blood,  but  the  purchase  would  have  been 
too  dear,  when  acquired  with  the  loss  of  English  subjects. 

It  was  the  dutv  of  the  Irish  to  fiVht  for  their  kinar.  But 
when  they  perceived  that  he  preferred  his  son-in-law's  life  to 
their  security,  and  his  own  interest,  in  my  humble  opinion, 
they  were  acquitted  of  their  allegiance.  It  was  his  own 
choice.  His  daughter,  queen  Mary,  during  her  husband's 
absence,  ordered  all  Papists  and  reputed  Papists,  to  depart 
ten  miles  from  London.  Her  reign  would  have  swelled  the 
code  of  penal  laws,  and  expanded  the  ten  miles  into  a  wider 
circuit,  had  not  king  William  controuled  the  spirit  of  op- 
pression, so  co- unnatural  to  the  Stuarts.  Exposed  to  the 
power  of  Lewis  the  Fourteenth,  ready  to  back  the  claims  of 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  59 

an  abdicated  king',  stilt  grasping  at  the  remains  of  expiring 
royalty.  William  the  Third  never  deprived  the  Catholics  of 
their  property.  He  even  allowed  the  most  part  of  the  Catho- 
lic gentry  the  use  of  such  arms  as  were  necessary  for  their 
defence  and  diversion  :  a  sword  and  a  gun.  Their  total  de- 
struction was  completed  by  the  last  sovereign  of  the  Stuart 
line. 

Queen  Anne,  by  reducing  the  leases  to  thirty-one  years, 
and  introducing  the  bills  of  discovery,  threw  the  nation  into 
a  convulsion,  from  whence  it  can  never  recover,  until  more 
lenient  hands  slacken  the  stiff  chain  of  penal  restraints. — 
Under  the  happiest  of  constitutions,  s?u  has  made  Ottoman 
slaves,  and  impressed  one  cf  her  kingdoms  with  the  traces 
of  Turkish  misery. 

'  Under  this  sort  of  government,'  says  Montesquieu, 
speaking  of  the  Ottoman  empire,   '  nothing  is  repaired  or  im- 

*  proved.     Houses  are  built  only  for  the  necessity  of  habi- 

*  tations  ;  every  thing  is  drawn  from,  but.  nothing  restored  to 
1  the  earth  :  the  ground  lies  untilied,  and  the  whole  country 
'  becomes  a  desart.'  Whoever  travels  over  the  most  part 
of  Ireland,  can  see  the  description  realized.  One  of  her 
laws,  whereby  it  is  decreed,  '  that  where  the  son  and  heir 
'  of  a  Papist,  shall  become  a  Protestant,  his  father  shall  be 
'  tenant  for  life,'  is  the  horror  of  Christendom,  and  an  in- 
delible stain  on  her  memory — '  Laws  written  in  characters 

*  of  blood,'  says  an  illustrious  member,  in  his  speech  on 
the  Popery  bills.  This  law  effectually  dissolves  the  ties  of 
nature,  reverses  filial  duty,  and  subjects  a  tender  and  aged 
father  to  the  empire  of  a  profligate  son,  who,  for  the  sake 
of  pleasure  and  dissolution,  would  subscribe  the  Alcoran  in 
Constantinople,  as  soon  as  he  would  the  thirty-nine  arti- 
cles in  Dublin,  and  say  with  the  Count  of  Bonneval,   'in 

*  turning  Turk  I  have  only  exchanged  my  hat  for  a  tur- 
4  ban.'  It  is  true,  that  her  victorious  generals  have  graced 
the  annals  of  the  queen ;  but  in  the  eyes  of  a  Christian,  her 
inclemency  and  ductility  shall  for  ever  disgrace  the  history  of 
the  Stuarts. 

Hitherto  we  have  a  retrospective  view  of  our  obligations 
to  those  our  royal  benefactors  :  let  us  now  look  forward  to  the 
agreeable  scene,  and  enchanting  prospect  of  riches  and  bless- 
ings, we  expect  from  their  restoration. 


60  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

In  reality,  Sir,  a  dear  bought  experience  has  broken  this 
charm  that  bewitched  our  ancestors  in  favour  of  the  Stuarts. 
Whilst  they  were  our  kings,  we  exerted  ourselves  to  support 
them  on  the  throne,  more  from  principle  than  faction  ;  and 
had  other  monarchs  swayed  the  sceptre,  we  would  have  done 
the  same.  In  a  word,  we  fell  with  our  kings,  and  the  very 
offspring  of  those  kings  have  chained  us  closer  to  the  ground. 
Now  the  tide  of  those  fatal  commotions  has  subsided.  This 
tumult  that  distracted  the  nation  in  the  Stuart's  reign  is 
allayed.  Are  we  to  quit  the  reality  in  pursuit  of  a  shadow  ? 
What  would  we  have  gained,  had  the  Pretender  been  crowned 
at  Westminster?  An  aggravation  of  our  yoke,  and  new 
calamities  ?  The  penal  laws,  relaxed  in  their  execution  by 
the  clemency  of  government,  would  have  been  revived  with 
new  vigour.  The  edge  of  persecution,  blunted  by  the  very 
humanity  of  our  fellow-subjects,  would  have  been  new  tem- 
pered and  sharpened. 

You  will  answer,  perhaps,  that  such  usage  could  not  be 
expected  from  a  Catholic  Prince.  Folly  !  pardon  the  expres- 
sion. You  know  that  the  throne  is  the  most  dazzling  object 
of  human  ambition.  Though  a  great  distance  from  its  steps, 
and  the  impossibility  of  obtaining  it  renders  the  most  part  of 
mortals  insensible  to  its  charms,  yet  in  regard  to  those  who 
are  entitled  to  it  by  their  birth,  it  is  a  magnet  that  attracts 
their  hearts,  the  great  idol,  to  vvhich  they  would  sacrifice 
their  very  blood,  and  the  water  of  Lethe,  erasing  by  its 
oblivious  qualities  all  impressions  of  friendship,  gratitude, 
and  even  religion.  Of  this,  history,  both  sacred  and  pro- 
fane, afford  several  instances.  Athalia  murdered  the  princes 
of  the  royal  house  of  Judah.  Tullia  drove  her  chariot  over 
her  father's  body,  and  dyed  its  wheels  in  his  blood,  from  an 
eagerness  to  be  saluted  queen.  In  the  time  of  the  crusades, 
a  Catholic  prince  was  found  in  the  number  of  the  slain,  with 
the  marks  of  the  circumcision  on  his  body.  He  expected 
the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  from  Saladin ;  and  this  fervent 
Christian,  who  a  few  years  before  would  have  spilt  his 
blood  in  defence  of  Christ's  sepulchre,  sold  Christ  him- 
self, for  the  dominion  of  a  city  in  which  he  had  been 
crucified. 

I  do  not  mean,  Sir,  that  any  of  our  regal  candidates 
would  turn  Turks  for  the  sake  of  a  crown.     But  certain  I 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  61 

am,  that  the  transition  is  easy  from  Popery  to  Protestant- 
ism, and  from  Protestantism  to  Popery,  when  a  diadem  is 
the  reward  of  conversion.  In  my  humble  opinion,  Charles 
the  Third  would  have  removed  Pope  and  Popery  out  of  his 
way  to  the  throne.  To  clear  himself  from  the  suspicion  of 
a  Popish  cancer,  the  oppression  of  Papists  would  have 
been  the  best  detersive.  A  Catholicon  very  familiar  to  the 
Smarts ! 

Perhaps  I  pass  a  rash  judgment  on  this  cherished  twig 
of  the  Stuart  stock:  if  so,  I  retract.  But  all  we  expect 
from  him  is  the  liberty  to  fast  and  pray ;  this  we  enjoy 
without  his  mediation,  and  it  would  be  madness  to  forfeit. 
Incapable  and  unwilling  to  hurt  the  public,  willing  and 
incapable  to  serve  it;  equally  destitute  of  property  and  arms 
to  defend  it,  our  duty  is  confined  to  passive  loyalty,  inforced 
by  religion.  Let  interest  and  the  liberty  of  purchasing  step 
in  as  an  active  principle,  you  will  not  find  one  Catholic  in  the 
kingdom  but  wiil  be  as  sanguine  as  yourselves  in  the  defence 
of  his  substance,  and  the  common  cause,  against  Pope  or 
Pretender.  We  daily  see  two  brothers  fight  with  the  ani- 
mosity of  open  enemies,  for  a  legacy  or  a  spot  of  ground. — 
We  read  of  Popes,  who  in  defence  of  their  territories,  have 
entered  into  leagues  with  Protestant  princes  against  Catholic 
powers.  Property  then  is  so  interwoven  with  self-preserva- 
tion, that  few  or  none  will  run  the  hazard  of  losing  it  in 
compliment  to  another,  were  he  even  a  saint;  and  of  all 
mortals  the  Stuarts  are  the  least  entitled  to  the  sacrifice  of 
our  acknowledgment. 

Yet,  as  the  frowardness  of  superiors  does  not  avert  their 
authority,  and  as  the  descendants  of  bad  princes  may  have  a 
rightful  claim,  one  point  more  remains  to  be  discussed,  viz. 
Whether  we  can  in  conscience  renounce,  all  allegiance  unto 
the  grandson  of  James  the  Second,  whose  abdication  of  the 
throne  has  been  the  effect  of  fear  and  compulsion  ?  Has  not 
the  son  a  right  to  the  estate  of  which  his  father  has  been  de- 
prived by  force  ?  And  in  opposing  this  right  do  I  not  com- 
mit a  flagrant  injustice  ? 

Tnis  important  question  is  to  be  solved  by  the  fundamen- 
tal laws  of  the  realm,  general  principles,  grounded  on  im- 
partial reason,   and  the    ordinary    dispensation    of   Provi- 


\ 


62  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

dence,  directing  the   revolutions  and  vicissitudes  of  human 
affairs. 

From  the  earliest  times,  the  laws  have  decreed,  that 
although  the  crown  be  hereditary,  yet  the  right  of  accession 
is  not  indefeasible.  The  English  have  defeated,  and  altered 
the  succession  as  early  as  the  time  of  Edward  the  Confessor, 
who  was  chosen  king  during  the  life  of  the  lawful  heir. 
The  history  of  England  affords  several  instances  of  the 
kind,  a  long  time  before  the  accession  of  the  .Stuarts  to  the 
throne.  The  law  both  in  present  and  past  times,  is,  and 
has  been,  '  that  the  crown  is  hereditary  in  the  wearer:  that 
4  the  king  and  both  houses  of  parliament  can  defeat  this 
4  hereditary  right,  and  by  particular  limitations  exclude  the 
4  immediate  heir,  and  vest  the  inheritance  in  any  one  else.' 
Thus  not  only  the  Pretender,  but  even  the  present  Prince  of 
Wales  can  be  excluded  from  the  throne,  with  the  consent 
of  the  king,  lords,  and  commons. 

Grotius,  a  learned  and  sanguine  stickler  for  indefeasible 
right,  though  he  cannot  agree  that  the  son  of  a  dethroned 
king  can  be  lawfully  excluded,  yet  is  forced  to  acknowledge, 
that  the  same  son,  if  not  born  whilst  his  father  was  in  posses- 
sion,can  be  deprived  of  his  right  to  the  throne  with  the  consent 
of  the  people,  because  such  a  prince,  says  he,  has  no  acquired 
right.  '  Illud  interest  inter  natos  et  nascituros,  quod  nas- 
4  cituris  nondum  quaesitum  sit  jus,  atque  adeo  iis  auferri 
4  possit  popuii  voluntate.'  Grot,  de  jure  belli,  lib.  2.  c.  7.  28. 
This  decides  for  ever  the  fate  of  Charles  the  Third,  who 
was  born  a  long  time  after  his  grandfather's  expulsion.  It 
is  moreover  grounded  on  the  clearest  principles  of 
reason. 

In  effect,  does  reason  allow  that  subjects  should  be  dis- 
tracted, between  kings  in  actual  possession  of  the  throne, 
and  the  grandsons  and  great  grandsons  of  kings  who 
had  formerly  enjoyed  it?  Bound  by  the  law  of  God  to 
pay  tribute  to,  and  obey  the  king,  whose  image  is  stamped 
on  his  coin :  Cujus  est  hcec  imago  ?  Bound  by  the  dictates 
of  conscience  to  assert  the  claims  of  his  rival:  to  pull  down 
their  king  with  one  hand,  to  support  him  on  the  throne  with 
the  other.  Carrying  within  themselves  two  opposite  laws, 
which  mixing  and  encountering  like  certain  chemical  liquors, 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  03 

raise  a  fermentation  that  cannot  be  allayed  to  the  end 
of  time. 

Let  us  suppose  that  Charles  Stuart  had  a  right  to  the 
throne ;  his  posterity  (if  ever  he  chance  to  have  any)  to 
the  last  generation  will  claim  the  same.  Let  us  suppose 
the  Hanoverian  line  in  possession  to  the  end  of  time.  Lo, 
a  curious  sight !  The  frame  of  government  turning  on  two 
hinges,  without  being  supported  by  either;  two  mathe- 
matical lines  always  approaching,  without  ever  touching, 
and  all  future  generations  balanced  and  suspended  between 
both,  without  knowing  which  of  the  two  to  incline  to. 
Good  sense,  the  law  of  nature,  or  the  general  good  of 
mankind,  to  which  the  claims  and  interest  of  one  man 
should  be  subordinate,  do  they  admit  such  rigorous 
enquiry? 

Celebrated  objection  of  civilians,  canonists,  and  divines  : — 
4  Time   is  no  active   principle.     Every  thing  is   done  in 

*  time,  but  nothing  by  it;  and  a  long  prescription,  without  a 

*  lawful  title,  is  no  lenitive  to  the  alarmed  conscience  of 
4  the  possessor,  nor  bar  to  the  claims  of  the  dispossessed.' 
The  civil  law  has  decided  so.  L.  3.  11.  3.  ff.  de  acq.  vel 
amit.  poss.  4  Non  capit  longa  possessione  qui  scit  alienum 
'  esse.'  And  the  canon  law,  Cap.  possessor  de  reg.  juris  in 
6.    *  Possessor  mala?  fidei  ullo   tempore    non   pra3scribit.' 

Answered  :  If  a  long  prescription,  without  an  original 
title,  cannot  secure  the  consciences  of  kings  and  subjects, 
God  help  the  world !  For  great  kingdoms,  if  traced  back 
to  their  origin,  are  great  robberies.  4  Sine  justitia  magna 
4  regna  sunt  magna  lacrocinia.'*  By  this  rule,  the  Stuarts 
had  no  right  to  the  throne  of  England  :  for  their  original 
title  was  defective,  as  derived  from  William  the  Conqueror, 
an  usurper,  or  from  the  ancient  Saxons,  who  plundered  and 
dispossessed  the  Britons.  How  can  we  calm  the  consciences 
of  the  Dutch,  Portuguese,  &c.  formerly  the  subjects  of 
Spain  ?  I  believe  the  most  scrupulous  amongst  them  are 
unconcerned  for  the  rights  of  their  former  masters. 

However,  I  acknowledge  that  time  alone,  without  some 
concurrent  cause,  cannot  legalize  a  prescription.  But  in 
regard  to  kings  and  the  allegiance  due  from  their  subjects,  a 
great  number  of  reasons  supply  the  deficiency  of  the  original 


*  St.  Augustine- 
K 


64  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

title  requisite  to  commence  a  prescription,  viz.  the  consent  of 
the  greatest  and  wisest  part  of  a  nation,  the  acquiescence  of 
the  whole  community — the  peace  of  the  public,  disturbed  by- 
factions  and  civil  wars,  ever  and  always  attendant  on 
changes  in  government — the  general  good  of  mankind  ;  in- 
consistent with  the  revival  of  old  claims — in  fine,  the  dis- 
pensation of  a  just  God,  who  visited  on  Saul's  posterity,  their 
father's  cruel  treatment  of  the  Gibeonites;  and  who  posi- 
tively declares,  that  *  he  wrests  the  sceptre  from  one  family, 
'  to  lodge  it  in  the  hands  of  another,  in  punishment  of  former 
'  crimes.'  Transfert  sceptrum  de  regno  et  degente,  adpopuhim 
alterum. — '  When  the  political  law  has  obliged  a  family  to 
'  renounce  the  succession,'  says  the  president  Montesquieu, 
'  it  is  absurd  to  insist  on  the  restitutions  drawn  from  the 
1  civil  law.  It  is  ridiculous  to  pretend  to  decide  the  rights  of 
'  kingdoms,  of  nations,  and  of  the  whole  globe,  by  the  same 
1  maxims  on  which  we  should  determine  the  right  of  a  gutter 
4  between  individuals.'* 

Further,  king  James  the  Second's  quitting  England,  with- 
out even  appointing  a  regent,  and  his  subsequent  behaviour 
at  the  Boyne,  is  an  abdication  of  the  throne,  or  else  there 
never  has  been  a  resignation  of  royalty.  Fear!  He  was 
intrepid  enough  before  his  son-in-law  became  his  competitor; 
and  though  prince  William  wanted  neither  courage  nor 
wisdom,  yet  his  prowess  was  not  so  famed  in  the  history  of 
the  times,  as  to  strike  terror  into  a  tolerable  general,  much 
less  into  the  heart  of  a  king,  whom  an  exalted  rank,  the 
love  of  his  subjects,  and  paternal  authority,  should  have 
animated  with  courage  and  resolution.  Old  captain  O'Regan 
was  not  afraid  when  he  desired  king  William's  officers  i  to 
4  change  generals,  and  fight  the  battle  over  again.'f 

In  times  of  invasion,  thrones  cannot  be  secured  without 
bloodshed.  If  the  fear  of  a  ball  cannot  dispense  subjects 
with  fighting  for  their  prince,  the  prince  is  bound  to  share 
the  danger,  or  at  least  to  remain  in  some  part  of  the  kingdom 
to  watch  and  direct  their  operations.  If  the  safety  of  the 
people  be  the  supreme  law,  solus populi  suprema  esto,  and  that 
kings  are  appointed  guardians  of  the  property  and  lives  of 
their  subjects,  who  in  the  beginning  could  have  instituted  a 

*  Montesquieu's  Spirit  of  Laws,  Vol.  II.  page  193. 
f  Hist,  of  EDg.  in  a  series  of  letters,  &c. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  65 

republican  as  well  as  a  regal  government,  the  king  who  pre- 
fers his  personal  safety  to  that  of  his  subjects,  flies  into  a 
foreign  country,  and  abandons  them  a  prey  to  the  first  occu- 
pant, forfeits  all  right  to  their  allegiance.  The  law  forbids 
the  use  of  two  weights  and  two  measures,  and  there  is  no  jus- 
tice without  equality. 

To  the  Irish,  then,  king  William  with  propriety  might 
have  applied  Curio's  speech  to  Domitius's  soldiers :  4  But 
4  did  you  desert  Domitius,  or  Domitius  his  soldiers  ?  Were 
'  you  not  ready  to  endure  the  last  extremities,  whilst  he 
4  privately  endeavoured  to  escape  ?  And  how  can  the  oath 
4  any  longer  oblige  you,  when  he  to  whom  you  swore, 
4  having  thrown  aside  all  marks  of  consular  dignity,  became 
4  a  private  person,  and  a  captive  to  another?'* 

Several  generations  have  decayed  and  succeeded  since 
James  the  Second  has  abdicated  the  throne.  Time  expunges 
the  impressions  of  the  nearest  and  dearest  connections.  We 
cheerfully  converse  in  walking  over  the  graves  of  friends,  (or 
whom  we  formerly  cried.  Had  then  our  attachment  to  the 
Stuarts  been  formed  of  links  of  steel,  it  could  not  endure 
to  the  present  generation. 

But  after  having  expatiated  so  long  on  the  claims  of  a 
family,  commencing  in  our  misfortune,  and  concluding  in  our 
ruin,  let  us  attribute  to  a  superior  cause  the  revolutions  of 
kingdoms,  and  in  the  very  sport  of  human  passions  trace 
the  footsteps  of  divine  Providence.  4  That  long  concatena- 
4  tion  of  particular  causes,  which  make  and  unmake  em- 
4  pires,  depends  upon  the  secret  orders  of  divine  Providence,' 
says  the  bishop  of  Meaux.  4  God  from  the  highest  Heavens 
4  holds  the  reigns  0f  a]l  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth  :  he  hath 
4  all  hearts  in  his  hands :  sometimes  he  gives  a  loose  to 
4  them;  and  thereby  moveth  all  mankind.  He  it  is  who 
4  prepares  effects  in  their  remotest  causes,  and  he  it  is  who 
4  strikes  those  great  strokes,  the  counter-stroke  whereof  is 
4  of  such  extensive  consequence.  Let  us  talk  no  more  of 
4  chance,  or  of  fortune.  What  is  chance  in  regard  to  our 
4  uncertain  counsels,  is  a  concerted  design  in  a  higher  coun- 
4  sel.  Thereby  is  verified  the  saying  of  the  apostle,  that 
'  God  is  the  blessed  and   only  potentate,  the  King  of  kings, 

*  Csesar  de  Bell.  Cir.  1  2.  c.  13- 


66  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

4  and  Lord  of  lords,  who  causes  all  revolutions  by  an  immu- 
'  table  counsel ;  who  gives  and  takes  away  power,  who 
4  transfers  it  from  one  man  to  another,  from  one  house  to 
4  another,  from  one  people  to  another,  to  shew,  that  they  all 
4  have  it  only  borrowed,  and  that  it  is  he  alone  in  whom  it 
*  naturally  resides  ?'*  Let  us  then  talk  no  more  of  the 
Stuarts,  but  bid  them  an  eternal  farewell. 

ART.  IV. 

4  And  I  do  swear  that  I  do  reject  and  detest  as  unchristian 
4  and  impious  to  believe,  that  it  is  lawful  to  murder  or 
4  destroy  any  person  or  persons  whatsoever  :  for  or  under 
4  pretence  of  their  being  heretics,  and  also  that  unchris- 
4  tian  and  impious  principle,  that  no  faith  is  to  be  kept 
4  with  heretics.' 

Any  attempt  to  prove  this  article  would  be  an  idle  task, 
whereas  we  are  sure  never  to  convince,  when  we  attempt 
to  prove  things  too  clear.  In  a  word  to  buy  a  piece  of  cloth, 
and  instead  of  paying  to  murder  the  draper,  4  for  or  under 
4  pretence  of  his  being  a  heretic,'  is  a  doctrine  unknown  to 
the  most  relaxed  of  our  casuists  We  appeal  to  the  gen- 
tlemen of  different  persuasions,  to  whom  restitutions  are 
daily  made,  through  the  hands  of  the  Catholic  clergy,  and 
to  such  of  them  as  have  been  stopt  on  the  high  road,  whe- 
ther the  robber  has  enquired  into  their  religion?  Murder 
is  against  the  fifth  commandment:  injustice  and  fraud  against 
the  seventh.  To  suppose  then  that  it  is  a  principle  of  Ro- 
man Catholics  to  murder  or  cheat  '  any  person  or  persons 
4  whatsoever,  for  or  under  the  pretence  of  their  being  here- 
tics,' is  to  suppose  them  ignorant  of  the  commandments  of 
God. 

Since  the  time  of  the  emperor  Theodosius,  laws  have  been 
enacted  concerning  heresy.  Lawyers  and  divines  of  both  com- 
munions have  been  divided  in  their  opinions:  Geneva  and  Lon- 
don, Calvinist  magistrates,  and  Protestant  kings,  have  concur- 
red with  the  Spanish  inquisitors  in  blazing  the  fagot,  and  fore- 
stalling the  rigour  of  eternal  justice.  The  writ  De  Hceretico 
Comburendo  (of  committing  heretics  to  the  flames)  was  in  force 
down  to  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Second,  and  hasmetwitk 

f  Bossnett's  Histoire  Universelle,  Vol.  2.  p.  403. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  67 

a  learned  apologist  in  Calvin.  By  the  statute  and  common 
laws  of  England,  some  punishments  are  still  in  force  against 
heretics  ;  but  how  far  these  and  severer  punishments  inflicted 
by  the  civil  and  imperial  laws,  are  impious  and  michristian, 
kings,  not  subjects,  are  interested  to  determine. 

In  every  Christian  country,  the  Christian  religion  is  a 
part  of  the  national  laws;  on  the  other  hand,  heresy,  in  its 
loosest  latitude  comprehends  errors  subversive  not  only  of 
revealed  religion,  but  moreover  of  morality,  and  justice  ;  such 
as  the  error  of  the  Priscillianists,  authorizing  false  oaths  ;  and 
the  errors  of  those  who  give  loose  to  private  and  public  vices, 
by  denying  all  rewards  and  punishments  beyond  the  grave. 
Should  then  the  supreme  magistrate,  to  whom  the  right  of 
the  sword  is  reserved,  determine  the  degree  of  punishment, 
and  instead  of  imprisonment,  banishment,  &c.  make  it  capital, 
let  his  conscience  condemn  or  acquit  him.  Every  subject 
should  still  'reject  and  detest,  as  unchristian  and  impious  to 

*  believe,  that  it  is  lawful  to  murder  or  destroy  any  person 
'  or  persons  whatsoever,  for  or  under  the  pretence  of  their 
'being  heretics.'  We  are  never  to  arrogate  to  ourselves  the 
power  of  life  and  death,  which  God  has  entrusted  to  the 
legislators,  and  to  them  alone. 

To  Catholic  and  Protestant  magistrates  let  us,  however, 
venture  to  propose  the  advice  of  St.  Bernard:  'Haeretici 
%'capiantur  non  armis,  sed  argumentis  f*  '  Let  heretics  be 
'convinced  not  with  blows,  but  arguments  ;'  and  the  opinion 
of  St.  Augustine,  in  his  letter  to  Count.  Marcellin  :  '  No  doc- 
'  trine  should  strike  a  deeper  horror  in  the  human  heart, 
'  than  that  which  teacheth  that  it  is  lawful  to  kill  any  person 

*  or  persons  under  pretence  of  heresy,  and  under  the  mask  of 
'religion,  spread  the  dismal  seeds  of  the  greatest  evils  in  the 

*  Christian  world, — murders,  dissentions,  wars.'  In  fine,  the 
opinion  of  a  learned  Protestant  Bishop  :  'Among  all  the  he- 
'  heresies  this  age  has  spawned,  there  is  not  one  more  con- 
i  trary  to  the  whole  design  of  religion,  and  more  destructive 
i  of  mankind,  than  is  that  bloody  opinion  of  delending  reli- 
t  gion  by  arms,  and  of  forcible  resistance  upon  the  colour  of 
t  religion. 'f 

*  Bernard,  in  Cant.  Serin.  62. 

f  Bishop  of  Saium,  Preface   to   the   Vindication    of  tlie   Churcu    and   State  of 
Scotland. 


68  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

However  upon  closer  inspection  into  those  persecutions 
which  have  changed  Europe  into  a  scene  of  Gothic  barbarity, 
we  shall  find  a  combination  of  various  causes,  amongst 
which  religion  was  a  pretext,  passion  and  policy  the  main 
springs. 

Examine  all  your  former  wars,  (commonly  stiled  wars  of 

*  religion)'  says  the  most  famous  writer  of  the  age,  '  you  will 
1  see  the  first  sparks  of  them  kindled  in  the  dark  recesses  of 

*  the  court,    or  in  the  ambitious   breasts  of  the  grandees. — 

*  Matters  were  first  embroiled  and  entangled  by  the  intrigues 
1  and  debates  of  the  cabinet ;  and  afterwards  the  leading  men 

*  raised  the  people  in  the  name  of  God.' 

In  effect,  Sir,  under  the  empire  of  grace,  our  passions 
retain  a  fatal  liberty,  and  even  uniformity  of  belief  does  not 
always  preclude  factious  divisions.  Whigs  and  Tories, 
Guelphes  and  Gibelines,*  may  repeat  the  same  creed,  and 
be  still  divided.  The  Sicilians  and  French  went  to  the 
same  churches  to  sing  the  hallelujahs  upon  an  Easter  Sun- 
day, when  soon  after  the  air  began  to  resound  with  the 
groans  of  bleeding  victims,  and  the  harmonious  sounds  of 
chiming  bells.  Had  the  sufferers  been  of  a  different  per- 
suasion from  that  of  their  aggressors,  religion  would  appear 
as  the  chief  character  in  the  tragedy,  when  represented  by 
some  of  our  English  historians,  especially  Sir  John  Temple, 
who  spreads  the  wild  theatre  of  imaginary  massacres,  abuses 
the  public  faith,  and  blends  the  mendacity  of  heathen 
Greece  into  the  history  of  Christians.  '  Et  quidquid,  Grcecia 

*  mendax  peccat  in  historia.' 'f 

To  clear  religion  from  those  bloody  imputations,  let  us 
contrast  the  present  with  the  past  times  ;  the  Huguenots,  for- 
merly victims  to  the  policy  of  Catharine  de  Medicis,  live  now 
in  peace  and  opulence,  and  enjoy  their  rich  estates  in  Poitou, 
Lower  Normandy,  &c.  The  order  of  military  merit  is  in- 
stituted to  reward  the  valour  of  their  officers  :  and  in  France 
no  man's  religion  is  a  bar  to  his  promotion  in  the  career  of 
military  honours,  whereas  nothing  is  more  common  than  to 
see  the  French  legions  commanded  by  Protestant  Generals. 
Here  in  Ireland,  the  Catholics,  formerly  driven  by  thousands 
into  woods  and  caverns,  and  their  clergy  hunted  like  wild 

*  Two  formidable  factions  iu  Italy- 
t  Juvenal,  Sat.  10. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  69 

beasts,  live  unmolested,  though  debarred  of  the  privilege 
of  becoming  soldiers  or  mayor's  Serjeants.  The  respective 
religions  of  the  two  kingdoms  are  now  what  they  were  then: 
whence  proceeds  this  happy  transition  from  persecution  to 
lenity?  Not  from  the  Christian  religion,  whose  spirit 
never  changes,  but  from  the  different  characters  of  its 
professors. 

The  French  Huguenots  are  now  under  Lewis  XVI. 
They  have  been  formerly  under  the  sway  of  a  Medicis. 
Formerly  under  the  Stuarts,  we  are  now  governed  by  the 
Brunswics.  Our  magistrates  are  Protestants,  but  quite  dif- 
ferent from  those  who,  instead  of  redressing  grievances,  used 
to  foment  the  rebellion,  with  a  view  of  enriching  themselves 
by  the  spoils  of  oppression.  In  line,  Sir,  let  us  divest  our- 
selves of  passion  :  religion  will  never  arm  our  hand  with  the 
poniard. 

ART.  V. 

'  I  further  declare,  that  it  is  no  article  of  my  faith,  and  that 
' 1  do  renounce,  reject,  and  abjure  the  opinion,  that  princes 

*  excommunicated  by  the  Pope  and  council,  or  by  any  au- 

*  thority  of  the  see  of  Rome,  or  by  any  authority  whatso- 

*  ever,  may  be  deposed  or  murdered  by  their  subjects,  or 

*  by  any  person  whatsoever  :  and  I  do  promise,  that  I  will 

*  not  hold,  maintain,  or  abet  any  such  opinion,  or  any  other 

*  opinion,    contrary  to  what  is  expressed  in  this  decla- 

*  ration.' 

This  article  of  the  test  requires  a  peculiar  discussion  :  as 
the  Pope's  deposing  power  has  caused  such  confusion  in  Eu- 
rope, during  the  great  struggles  between  the  priesthood  and 
empire,  and  is  often  an  engine  employed  in  parliament,  to 
defeat  the  good  intentions  of  the  members,  who,  from  prin- 
ciples of  humanity  and  zeal  for  the  prosperity  of  the  king- 
dom, endeavour  to  remove  the  heavy  yoke  of  penal  restraints. 
The  question  is — Whether  the  deposing  power  be  an  article 
of  the  Catholic  faith  ?  For  my  heart  startles  and  my  hand 
recoils  at  the  words,  ■  murdered  by  their  subjects.'  As  if 
the  principles  of  any  sect  of  Christians  authorized  a  gloomy 
ruffian  to  plunge  the  dagger  in  the  royal  breast.  To  deter- 
mine the  question,  let  us  enquire,  first,  into  the  doctrine  of 


70  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

the  Church  concerning  the  deposing  power :  secondly,  into 
its  origin. 

Resistance  to  princes  has  been  an  early  charge  against  the 
Church  :  and  from  her  infancy  down  to  this  day,  her  pastors 
and  doctors  have  repelled  the  calumny.  An  imputed  doc- 
trine then,  yet  still  disclaimed,  can  never  be  an  article  of  her 
faith. 

It  is  true  that  the  concessions  of  princes  to  the  Apostolic 
see — an  excessive  veneration  for  the  first  Pastor  of  the 
Church — flattery  in  some — rash  zeal  in  others — have  raised 
up  Bellarmin  and  some  other  champions  for  the  deposing 
power,  beyond  the  Alps.  But  the  deviations  of  some  indi- 
viduals should  be  considered  as  spots  in  the  sun,  or  the  mis- 
conduct of  a  citizen  whose  fault  should  not  be  charged  upon 
a  large  community. 

The  apologists  of  the  deposing  power  (now  grown  obsolete) 
are  few :  and  their  doctrine  must  either  stand  or  fall  with  the 
evidence  or  inevidence  of  their  arguments,  unsupported  by 
authority,  and  contradicted  by  the  practice  and  doctrine  of 
all  ages  and  nations. 

In  the  Apostles  time,  the  Jews  began  to  revolt,  and  sow 
the  seeds  of  that  rebellion  which  assembled  the  Roman  eagles 
round  their  walls,  and  involved  their  nation  in  final  destruc- 
tion: their  great  pretence  was — the  seeming  impropriety  of 
the  subjection  of  God's  chosen  people  to  a  heathen  domi- 
nion :  and,  as  the  first  converts  sprung  from  the  Jews,  the 
Heathens  confounded  together  Jews  and  Christians,  and 
charged  them  alike  with  the  doctrine  of  resistance  to  subor- 
dination and  government.  The  great  St.  Paul  vindicates 
the  Christians,  and  lays  down  for  a  general  rule,  *  that  every 

*  soul    must  be  subject    to  higher  powers ;  that  there  is  no 

*  power  but  from  God,  and,  that  those  who  resist  receive 
damnation  unto  themselves.'*  Should  any  one  reply,  that, 
'  the    church    has    more    power    over  Christian  kings,    as 

*  by  baptism  they  become  her  children,'  it  can  be  easily  an- 
swered, that  dominion  and  temporal  power  are  founded  in 
free-will  and  the  laws  of  nations,  but  not  conferred  nor  taken 
away  by  a  spiritual  regeneration :  and  Bellarmin  himself  is 
forced  to  acknowledge,  that  '  the  Gospel  deprives  no  man  of 

*  Romans,  xiii. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  7l 

*  his  right  and  dominion,  but  gets  him  a  new  right  to  an 

*  eternal  kingdom.'* 

The  apostolical  constitutions,  whether  genuine  or  spurious, 
are  certainly  of  an  ancient  date,  and  give  us  great  insight 
into  the  discipline  of  the  primitive  times.  They  command 
4  to  fear  the  king  as  God's  institution  and  ordinance. 'f  '  The 
4  Christians  worship  God  only,'  says  St.  Justin  Martyr, 
4  they  are  subject  to  the  emperors  in  all  things  else. 'J  '  By 
4  whose  command  men  are  born,'  says  St.  Irenaeus,  '  by  his 

*  commands  also  are  kings  ordained,  as  suits  the  circum- 
4  stances  of  those  over  whom  they  are  set :  some  for  the 
4  amendment  and  benefit  of  their  subjects ;  and  some  for 
4  fear  and  punishment;  for  reproof  and  contempt  as  the 
4  people  shall  have  deserved;  the  just  judgment  of  God 
4  reaching  equally  to  all.'  Tertullian,  St.  Ambrose,  St. 
Augustine,  St.  Gregory  Nyssen,  Optatus  Milevitanus,  in 
fine,  ail  the  fathers  declare,  4  that  kings  have  none  above 
4  them,  but  God  alone,  who  made  them  kings ;  that  God 
4  bestows  the  heavenly  felicity  on  the  godly  only,  but  the 
4  kingdoms  of  the  earth  on  both  godly  and  ungodly:  and 
4  that  to  him  alone,  the  cruel  Marius  and  the  gracious 
4  Caesar,  Augustus,  the  best  of  princes,  Nero,  one  of 
4  the  worst,  Constantino  the  Christian,  and  Julian,  the 
4  apostate,  are  equally  indebted  for  their  authority  and 
4  power.' 

If  from  the  fathers  you  continue  the  long  chain  of  vene- 
rable antiquity  through  tho  successive  reigns  of  the  Roman 
pontiffs,  you  will  find  the  deposing  power  assumed  by  few; 
the  pre-eminence  of  kin^s.  and  their  dependence  on  God 
alone,  asserted  by  the  mildest  and  most  learned,  and  those 
by  far  the  greatest  number. 

St.  Gregory  the  Great  not  only  disclaims  any  temporal 
power  over  kings,  but  even  acknowledges  himself  their 
subject.  The  Emperor  insists  on  the  publication  of  a  law. 
The  Pope  writes  to  him  :  '  1  being  subject  to  your  command, 
4  have  caused  the  law  to  be  sent  into  several  parts,  and  be- 
4  cause  the  law  agrees  not  with  God  omnipotent,  1  have  by 
4  letter  informed  my  serene  lord.     Wherefore  I  have  in  both 

*   BeHariniri;  de  Rom.  Pontif.  lib.  v.  c.  3. 
t  Lib.  VII.         %  Apolog-.  2. 
L 


72  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

'  done  what  1  ought,  obeyed  the  Emperor,  and  not  con- 
4  cealed  what  I  thought  for  God.'  Eleutherius,  Anastasius  2, 
Galasius,  Symmachus,  Gregory  2,  Leo  4,  Nicholas  3, 
Adrian  1,  Nicholas  2,  John  8,  and  Celestin  3,  call 
the  king  '  God's  vicar  on  earth :'  forbid  the  priest  to 
s  usurp  the  regal  dignity ;'  and  confine  the  power  of  the 
'  Church  '  to  the  dispensation  of  divine,  that  of  the  prince 
'  to  the  administration  of  temporal  things.' 

If  you  consult  cardinals,  who  have  heightened  the  glory 
ofthair  purple   by  their  learning  and  piety,  you   will  meet 
with  numerous  and  steady  assertors  of  regal  independence. 
4  I  pre-suppose  what  is  known  even  to  the  vulgar,'  says  Car- 
dinal Cusanus,  '  that  the-  imperial  celsitude  is  independent 
of  '  the  sacerdotal  power,  having  an  immediate  dependence 
'  on  God.*      Between   the    kingdom   and   priesthood,   the 
4  proper  offices  of  each  are  distinct,  that  the  king  may  make 
4  use  of  the  arms  of  the  world,  and  the   priest  be  girt  with 
4  the  sword  of  the  spirit,  which  is  the   word  of  God,'  says 
Cardinal  Damianus.t     In  answer  to  some  objections  drawn 
from  the  conduct  of  a  Pope,  regular  and  exemplary  in  other 
respects,  but  too  ready  to  interfere  in  temporal  concerns, 
this   great  man  replies :  '  I  say  what  I  think,   that  neither 
Peter  obtained    the  '  apostolical   principality,    because   he 
*  denied  Christ,  nor  David  deserved  the  oracle  of  prophecy, 
'  because  he  defiled  another  man's  bed.'     As   much  as  to 
sav,  that  this  Pope  committed  a  fault,  which  he  afterwards 
cancelled  by  repentance. 

If  vou  stiil  fear  that  the  long-famed  British  throne  should 
be  overturned  by  syllogisms,  or  that  the  jars  of  schoolmen 
may  silence  the  English  cannon,  (for  you  have  nothing  more 
to  apprehend  from  the  Pope)  I  can  march  to  your  aid  a  for- 
midable army  of  scholastic  divines,  armed  cop-a-pee  in  sup- 
port of  regal  pre-eminence. — Navar,  Durandus,  Joan,  Paris, 
Almain,  Gerson,  Victoria,  Thorn.  Wald.  Anton,  de  Roselli, 
iEsridius,  Rom.  Ambros.  Catharinus,  &c.  &c.  some  of  whom 
qualify  the  deposing  power  with  the  epithets  of  horrible  and 
seditious :  and  others  style  it  downright  ma.dness.%   Add  to  the 


*  Cihs.  1.  3.  Cone.  c.  5.  t  Damianus,  Lib.  iv.  Epist.  9. 

X  Ambros.  Cathar.  in  13.  Rom.  Rowlli.  de  pot.  pap. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  73 

foregoing  authorities,  the  Council  of  Constance  in  the  year 

1415.    The  declaration  of  the  provincial  congregation  of  the 

Jesuits  at  Ghent,  in  the  year  1681,  and  that  of  :he  clergy  of 

France  in  1682;  who  declare   that  *  kings  and  princes  by 

'  God's  ordinance  are  not  subject  in  temporals  to  a!  y  eccle- 

'  siastical  power,  and  that  they  cannot  be  deposed  directly 

4  nor  indireetly,  by  the  authority  of  the  keys  of  the  Church, 

4  neither  can  their  subjects  be  freed  from  fealty  and  obedi- 

'  ence,  nor  absolved  from  their  oath  of  allegiance.'     '  Reges 

'  ergo  et  principes  in  temporalibusnulli  ecclesiastical  potestati 

4  Dei  ordinatione  subjici,  neque  authoritate  clavium  ecclesias 

4  directe  vei  indirecte  deponi,  aut  illorum  subditos  eximi  a 

'  fide  atque  obedicntia,  ac  pneslito  fidelitatis  sacramento  soivi 

'  posse:  eamque  sententiam,  ut  verbo  Dei,  patrum  traditioni, 

*  et  sanctorum  exempiis  consomam,  omnino  retinemdam-'* 

Exen  in  the  canon  law  it  is  declared,  that  4  kings  ackiK  w- 

4  ledge  no  superior  in  temporals :'  and,  that  4  appeals  con- 

4  cerning  temporals  should  not  be  brought  to  the  Pope's  tri- 

4  bunal.'f 

In  fine,   the  deposing  power  was  so  unknown  in  primitive 
times,  that  Bellarmin,   who  has  ransacked  the  works  of  the 
fathers,  and  enriched  himself  with  their  spoils,  in  defending 
the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  cculd  cite  none  but  St.  Bernard 
in  support  of  the  novel  doctrine  of  deposition :  and  yet  this 
father,  who  mentions  two  swords  in  the  Church,  onlymems 
that  in  the  Church  are  Christian   princes  invested  with  the 
right  of  the  sword  :    For,   in  writing  to  Pope  Eugenitis,  the 
saint  uses  these  remarkable  words  :  '  Earthly  kingdoms  have 
4  their  judges,,  princes  and  kings.     Why  do  you  thrust  your 
4  sickle  into  another  man's  harvest  ?  St.  Peter  could  not  give 
4  what  he  had  not :  did  he  give  dominion  ?    It  is  the  saying 
4  of  the  Lord  in  the  gospel,  the  kings  of  the  Gentiles  have 
4  dominion  over  them,  but  you  not  so.     It  is  plain  dominion 
4  is  forbid  to  apostles.     Go  now  and  dare  usurp  either  domi- 
4  nion  with  the  apostleship,  or  with  the  apostleship  dominion. 
4  You  are  plainly  forbid  the  one.     If  you  will  have  both,  you 
4  will  lose  both:  you  will  be  of  the  number  of  those  of  whom 


*  Declaiatio  Cleri  Oallicani,  anno  1662; 
f  Cap.  si  duobiis.  Extra  de  appcl. 


74  MISCELLANEOUS     TRACTS. 

4  God  complains,  they  have  been  princes,  and  I  knew  them 
4  not.'* 

Bcllarmin's  misapplication  of  St.  Bernard's  text,  was  not 
the  only  mistake  his  antagonists  have  censured.      His  wild 
conjecture,  that   'the  Christians  would  have  deposed  N   ro 
4  and    Julian    the   Apostate,  and   the  like,  had  they  had  the 
4  power  to  do  so,'  raised  the  indignation  of  the  Catholic  uni- 
vertities.     '  Quod    si  Christiani  ohm  non  deposuerint  Nero- 
4  nem,  et  Juiianum  Apostatem,  et  similes,  id  fuit  quia  defue- 
4  raot   vires    temporales  Christianis.'f     The    decision    was 
considered  by  the  Catholic  divines,  as  more  becoming    the 
seaiiet  robe  of  the  stern  Brutus,  who  beheaded  his  children 
for  siding  with  their  king,  than  the  purple  of  the  Christian 
Cardinal.    It  was  revised by  the  university  of  Paris;  corrected 
bv  the  hangman  with  a  blazing  fagot;  and  contradicted  by 
the  unexceptionable  testimony  of  Tertullian  and  St.  Augus- 
tine.    !  Should  we  want   numbers  or   forces,  if  we  had    a 
4  a  mind  to  be  open   enemies  ?'  says  Tertullian.     4  Are  the 
'  Moors,  the  Marcomans,  and  Parthians,  and   whatever  na- 
4  tions  of  one  place,  and  confined  to  their  own  limits,  more 
4  than  those  of  the  whole  world  ?     We  are  but  men  of  yes- 
4  terday ;   and  yet  have  filled  all  the  places  you  have — your 
4  cities,  islands,   and  castles,  boroughs,  councils,    and  camp 
4  itself,  your  tribes,  courts,  the  senate  and  the  market.     We 
have  left  you  only  the  temples.     For  what  war  are  we  not 
fit  and  ready,  (even  though   we  were  inferior  in   number) 
4  who   endure    death   so    willingly,    if   in  this  discipline  it 
4  were  as  lawful  to  kill   as   to    be  killed  ?'|     '  They  could 
4  at  their  pleasure  have  deposed  Julian,'  says  St.  Augustine, 
4  but  would  not  because   they  were    subject  for  necessity, 
4  not  only  to  avoid  anger,  but  for  conscience  and  love,  and 
4  because  oui  Lord  so  commanded.'^)     In  effect,  Sir,  laying 
aside  the  truth  of  history,  had  Peter  and  Paul  been  as  will- 
ing to  depose  kings,  for   the  glory  of  God,  and  the  pro- 
pagation of  religion,  as  some  of  our  modern   zealots  of  all 
communions,  how  could  Nero  have  withstood  those  Apos- 
tles,   whose   word  alone  was   to   Ananias  and  Saphira   a 

*  St.  Bernard,  Lib.  2.  de  Consid. 

f  Bellarmin,  de  Rom.  Pontiff,  Lib.  y.  c.  7. 

X  Tert.  Apol.  c.  37,  §  In  Psal.  124. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  75 

messenger  of  death,  struck  the  magicians  blind,  and  raised 
the  dead  to  life  ? 

I  say,  of  all  communions :  for  in  every  communion  there 
are  men  of  deposing  principles,  which  their  religion  dis- 
claims. '  Iiiacos  intra  muros  peccatur  et  extra.'  Dole- 
man,  Buchanan,  Milton,  Sam.  Johnson,  Hobbes,  Hoadiy, 
Locke,  and  several  other  advocates  of  republican  princi- 
ples, and  sticklers  for  popular  rights,  are  more  dangerous 
than  Bellarmin,  who  disowns  the  deposing  power,  except  in 
the  case  of  a  prince  forcing  his  subjects  to  change  their  re- 
ligion :   *  Si  tnim  tales  principes  non  conentur  fideles  a  fide 

*  avertere,  non  existimo  posse  eos  privari  suo  dominio  '* 
A  salvo  winch,  I  hope,  will  remove  all  umbrage  and  suspi- 
cion from  the  mindt  of  our  governors  :  as  they  do  not  reckon 
persecution  in  th<-  number  of  their  cardinal  virtues  :  even  if 
they  did,  resistance  is  not  a  principle  of  the  Catholic  reli- 
gion. 

But  I  am  clearly  of  opinion,  that  had  Mr.  Locke,  the 
wisest  and  most  moderate  of  those  English  writers,  been  an 
officer  in  Julian's  army,  he  would  have  reasoned  the  sol- 
diers into  open  rebellion.  He  that  compares  subjects,  who 
would  brook  the  violence  and  oppression  of  their  supreme 
ruler,  to  fools,  '  who  take  care  to  avoid  what  mischiefs  mi.y 

*  be  done  them  by  pole-cats  or  foxes,  but  are  content,  nay 
1  think  it  safety  to  be  devoured  by  lions/f  and  illustrates  his 
doctrine  with  the  following  example:  '  he  that  hath  autho- 
'  rity  to  seize  my  person  in  the  street,  may  be  opposed  as  a 
'  thief  and  a  robber,  if  he  endeavours  to  break  into  my  house 

*  to  execute  a  writ,  notwithstanding  that  I  know  he  has  such 
'  a  warrant,  and  such  a  legal  authority  as  will  empower  him 
1  to  arrest  me  abroad.     And  why  this  should  not  hold  in  the 

*  highest,  as  well  as  in  the  most  inferior  magistrate,  I  would 
'  gladly  be  informed.5 J. 

Here  you  see  a  philosophical  freedom  breaking  the  shackles 
of  restraint  and  ceremony,  and  under  the  pretence  of  redress- 
ing imaginary  grievances,  introducing  real  mischief  and  a 
state  of  nature,  wherein  the  most  factious  and  daring  adven- 
turers would  take  the  lead.     '  For  this  devolution  of  power 


*  Bellarmin,  de  Ram.  Pontif.  1.  v.   c.   7.  f  Locke  on  Government,  page  253, 

J  Ibid-  page  313. 


70  MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS. 

to  the  people  at  large,  includes  in  it  a  dissolution  of  the 
whole  form  of  government  established  by  that  people,'  says 
udge  Blackstone,  *  reduces  all  the  members  to  their  origi- 
nal state  of  equality,  and  by  annihilating  the  sovereign 
power,  repeals  all  positive  laws  whatsoever  before  enacted. 
No  human  laws  will  therefore  suppose  a  case,  which  at 
once  must  destroy  all  law.'*  '  Woe  to  all  the  princes  upon 
earth,'  says  a  Protestant  archbishop,  *  if  this  doctrine  (of 
resistance)  be  true  and  becometh  popular  ;  if  the  multitude 
believe  this,  the  prince  not  armed  with  the  scales  of  the  Le- 
viathan, can  never  be  safe  from  the  spears  and  barbed  irons, 
which  ambition,  presumed  interest,  and  malice  will  sharpen, 
and  passionate  violence  will  throw  against  him.  If  the 
beast  we  speak  of  but  knows  its  own  strength,  it  will  never 
be  managed.'f 

*  But  the  same  equality  of  justice  and  freedom  that  obliged 
me  to  lay  open  this,'  says  the  Bishop  of  Sarum,  c  ties  me  to 
tax  all  those  who  pretend  a  great  heat  against  Home,  and 
value  themselves  on  their  abhorring  all  the  doctrines  and 
practices  of  that  church,  and  yet  have  carried  along  with 
them  one  of  their  most  pestiferous  opinions, %  pretending  re- 
formation when  they  would  bring  all  under  confusion  ;  and 
vouching  the  case  and  work  of  God,  when  they  were  de- 
stroying the  authority  he  had  set  up,  and  opposing  those 
impowered  by  him  ;  and  the  more  piety  and  devotion  such 
daring  pretenders  put  on,  it  still  brings  the  greater  stain  and 
imputation  on  religion,  as  if  it  gave  a  patronacy  to  those 
practices  it  so  plainly  condemns.' $  The  borders  of  the 
Thames  and  Tweed  afford  then  advocates  for  the  deposing 
power,  as  Weil  as  the  banks  of  the  Tiber  and  Po. 

On  the  banks  of  the  Tiber  a  bigotted  divine  vests  in  the 
Pope  an  indirect  power  over  wicked  kings.  On  the  banks 
of  the  Thames  an  enthusiastic  Englishman  vests  in  the  sub- 
ject a  direct  power  over  his  sovereign.  Religion  points  out  an 
intermediate  course,  without  giving  a  patronacy  to  reveries, 


*  Blaf  ketone's  Comm.  b.  1.  p.  162. 

f  Creed  of  Mr.  Hobbes,  examined  by  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

%  The  Bishap'sheat  against  Rome  often  mistakes  or  disguises  their  r«al  opinioua. 

^  Sermon  of  Subjection. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  77 

and  mankind  shall  always  find  their  account,  better  in 
mediums,  than  in  extremes.  The  doctrine  of  the  Italian 
has  fattened  the  German  soil  with  dead  bodies,  and  in- 
duced a  Pope*. to  attempt  placing  his  flesh  and  blood  ort 
the  throne  of  the  Caesars.  The  doctrine  of  the  English- 
man has  placed  dray-men  and  coolers  in  the  seats  of  Bri- 
tish peers ;  and  by  an  extraordinary  vicissitude  in  bringing 
a  king  to  the  block  in  England,  raised  a  tailor  to  the  throne 
in  Germany.f 

Such  are  the  fruits  of  those  two  systems,  equally  perni- 
cious to  the  safety  of  kings,  and  the  peace  of  society. 
Their  respective  authors,  in  striking  from  the  plain  road 
of  the  Christian  doctrine,  ■  Let  every  soul  be  subject  to 
'  higher  powers,'  into  the  airy  paths  of  speculation,  have 
busied  themselves  in  pursuit  of  a  plan  the  most  alarming 
to  mankind.  Kings  were  beheaded,  and  others  deposed, 
before  some  of  those  authors  had  published  their  works, 
it  is  true :  but  are  they  the  more  justifiable  id  publishing 
a  doctrine  which  may  tincture  the  scaffold  a  second  time  ? 
The  difference  between  them  is,  that  the  Englishman,  in 
terse  and  popular  language,  engages  the  imagination: 
adorns  his  subjects  by  a  long  chain  of  deduction  :  makes 
truth  bend  to  arguments,  reality  to  appearance ;  and  is 
read  by  all.  In  this  great  arsenal,  every  common  reader 
can  find  arms  to  reduce  his  king  to  reason ;  the  ship- 
wright and  carpenter  are  enabled  by  the  rules  of  political- 
logic,  to  trim  the  vessel  of  state,  and  steer  it  through  the 
unbounded  ocean  of  constitutional  liberty.  But  the  ultra- 
montane divine  bristling  with  barbarous  Latin,  is  not  read 
by  one  in  three  millions.  Powdered  with  dust,  and 
stretched  on  the  shelf  of  a  college  library,  he  sleeps  as  sound 
as  Endimion  in  his  cave,  and  more  is  the  pity :  for  his  doc- 
trine of  the  deposing  power  is  founded  on  as  solid  proofs  as 
the  history  of  that  Spaniard  who  made  a  voyage  to  the  moon  : 
and  displayed  in  a  style  not  inferior  to  that  of  Valentine  and 
Orson.  Of  his  style  and  arguments  I  send  you  the  following- 
sample  : 

'  Probatur  per  simiiitudinem  ad  artem  frcenifactoriam%  et 

*  Alexander  VI. 

f  John  of  Leyden,  a  taylor,  made  king-  «f  Munster. 

£  New-coined  Laiin,  much  of  the  same  cUte  v>1th  the  Ueppsinj  power. 


73  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

'  equestrcm.  Ut  enim  duae  ille  artes  sunt  inter  se  diverse, 
'  quia  distincta  habent  objecta,  et  subjecta,  et  actiones  ;  et 
1  tamen  quia  finis  unius  ordinatue  ad  finem  alterius,  ideo  una, 
'alteri  prasst,  et  leges  ei  praescribk:    ita  videntur  potestas 

*  ecclesiastica  et  politico,  diatmctse  potestates  esse  ;   et  tamen 

*  una  altcri  subordinate,  quoniam  finis  unius  ad  finem  alte- 

*  rius  natura  sua  refertur.'  *  That  the  Pope  has  an  indirect 
1  power  in  temporals  is  proved  by  the  example  of  the  art  of 

*  making  bridles,  and  the  art  of  riding :  for  as  these  two  arts 
'  are  different,  because  they  have  different  objects,  and  sub- 
jects, and  actions  :  and  notwithstanding,  because  the  end  of 

*  one  is  appointed  for  the  end  of  the  other,  therefore  one  pre- 
'  sides  over  the  other,  and  prescribes  laws  to  it:  in  like  man- 
cner  the  ecclesiastical  and  political  powers  seem  tobe  distinct 

*  powers,  and  the  one  nevertheless  subordinate  to  the  other, 

*  because  the  end  of  the  one  is  by  its  own  nature  referred  to 
'the  end  of  the  other.' 

There,  bir,  is  learned  gibberish,  saddling  the  Pope  on  the 
backs  of  kings,  by  Aristotle's  metaphysics,  the  object,  subject, 
action,  and  relation,  and  end  of  bridle-making. 

Another  advocate  for  the  deposing  power  disapproves  the 
simile  :  'because,  says  he,  very  gravely,  '  if  the  art  of  riding 
'  were  taken  away,  bridles  would  be  useless  :  but  the  political 

*  power  can  subsist  without  the  ecclesiastical.'  *  Si  enim  non 
'  sit  ars  equestris,  supervacanea  est  ars  fraenomm  faciendo- 
'  rum.'*  An  attempt  to  rectify  the  lameness  of  the  com- 
parison, by  one  quite  as  lame.  If  I  had  not  the  authority  of 
a  cardinal  to  apologize  for  an  absurdity,  I  should  not  men- 
tion it,  for  fear  of  being  censured  :  but  I  expect,  that,  with 
his  eminence's  passport,  it  will  be  received  by  the  public— 
He  compares  the  Pope  to  a  shepherd,  and  the  king  to  mis. 
'  Pastori  est  potestas  triplex  :  una  circa  lupos,  altera  circa 
'  arietes,  tertia  circa  oves  :  unde  debet  arietem  furiosum  de- 

*  pellere.'f 

You  have  in  these  two  similies  as  solid  arguments  in  favour 
of  the  deposing  power,  as  Albertus  Phigius  and  Bellarmin 
have  ever  advanced  in  support  of  their  hypothesis  :  and  to 
them  arid  their  authors,  I  grant  the  same  passport  the  satirist 
granted  Hannibal  iri  crossing  the  Alps. 

'  I,  deuiens,  et  sssvas  curre  per  Alpes, 
'  Ut  pueris  placeas,  et  declamatio  fias  '  j 

*  Bellarmin,  lib.  v.  de  Rom.  Pontif.    t  Bellarmin,  ibidem.     J  Juvenal,  sat.  xl 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 


79 


You  are  to  expect  some  Scripture,  in  like  manner:  for 
there  never  has  been  an  error,  how  monstrous  soever,  but 
Scripture  was  quoted  to  give  it  some  colour.  Arians, 
Eutychians,  Nestorians  have  wrested  the  sacred  writings 
to  a  wrong  sense.  The  advocates  for  the  deposing 
power  have  done  the  same.  The)r  quote  St.  Paul,  who 
blames  the  Corinthians  for  pleading  before  heathen  ma- 
gistrates. This  proves  that  you  and  I  could  depose  a 
king,  because  he  would  advise  our  neighbour  to  avoid 
troublesome  and  scandalous  law-suits,  and  leave  the  de- 
cision to  the  arbitration  of  two  honest  neighbours.  4  Je- 
4  hoiada,  the  high  priest,  ordered  queen  Athalia  to  be 
4  slain.*  Ergo,  the  Pope  has  an  indirect  power  over  bad 
4  kino's.' 

This  proves  a  direct  power,  not  only  to  depose,  but  to 
murder  them:  a  power  which  neither  Bellarmin  nor  any 
Catholic  divine  has  ever  vouched.  Second  :  Athalia,  who 
had  murdered  all  the  princes  of  the  royal  house  of  Judah, 
except  Joash,  was  no  longer  queen,  when  the  sentence  was 
executed  on  her:  for  the  young  prince  was  crowned  in 
the  temple,  and  recognized  by  his  subjects.  His  minority 
could  not  have  deprived  him  of  the  right  of  the  sword  :  and 
Jehoiada  acted  as  minister  of  state,  not  in  his  pontifical 
character.  This  evinces  Bellarmin's  blunder  in  confound- 
ing together  the  queen  and  subject,  the  pontiff  and  coun- 
sellor. Third :  during  the  six  years  she  swayed  the 
sceptre,  none  of  her  subjects  revolted  against  her,  much 
less  did  the  pious  pontiff  absolve  them  from  their  allegiance, 
though  she  re-established  Baal's  worship,  and  maintained 
his  priests  in  the  temple  of  the  true  God.  A  circumstance 
which  Bellarmin  should  have  attended  to,  had  he  a 
mind  to  read  his  condemnation.  Solomon  deposed 
Abiathar,  the  high  priest :  will  Bellarmin  grant  me  the 
liberty  to  infer  from  this  fact,  that  kings  can  depose 
Popes  ? 

Such  are  the  ridiculous  shifts  to  which  the  patrons  of  a  bad 
cause  are  inevitably  reduced !  Wild  and  unnatural  similies, 
or  facts  that  prove  too  much,  and  can  be  justly  retorted  on 
themselves.     Am  I  accountable  for  their  folly?  Or  must  an 

*  Fourth  Book  of  Kings. 
M 


80  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

Irish  Catholic  starve,  because  an  Italian  wrote  nonsense  in 
bad  Latin,  two  hundred  years  ago  ? 

Had  he  not  slackened  the  reins  of  an  enthusiastic 
imagination,  and  let  it  loose  to  its  random  flights,  he  could 
have  spared  himself  the  trouble  of  soaring  to  heaven,  in 
pursuit  of  this  offspring  of  human  ambition,  or  the  zeal  of 
earthly  kings.  For  that  the  deposing  power  originated 
either  in  privileges  granted  by  pious  zeal,  or  covenants 
entered  into  and  sealed  by  ambition,  history  leaves  no 
room  to  doubt,  and  religion  forbids  to  believe  other- 
wise. 

Let  us  begin  at  home.  Inas,  king  of  the  West  Saxons, 
renders  his  kingdom  tributary  to  the  Holy  See.  This  con- 
cession paves  the  way  to  future  claims.  Henry  the  Second 
solicits  and  obtains  a  bull  from  Pope  Adrian,  in  order  to 
invade  Ireland.  The  Pope  grants  it :  but,  in  blessing  this 
new  dish  that  is  to  be  served  on  the  English  monarch's 
table,  he  carves  his  own  portion.  And  why  not?  The  one 
had  as  good  a  right  to  it  as  the  other. 

It  is  inserted  in  the  bull,  that  '  the  annual  pension  of  one 
'  penny  from  every  house,  should  be  saved  to  St.  Peter.'  If 
the  holy  father  and  his  dear  and  illustrious  son,  as  he  styles 
him,  had  afterwards  quarrelled  about  the  spoils,  the  re- 
ligion of  the  subject  should  not  be  concerned  in  the  dispute. 
King  John,  in  his  contestations  with  Philip  Augustus  of 
Francs,  appeals  to  the  Pope,  and  renders  him  the  arbiter 
of  rights  that  should  be  decided  by  the  sword.  The  French 
monarch  lays  in  his  exceptions  to  the;  Pope's  tribunal, 
as  incompetent  in  such  a  case.  The  Englishman  chooses 
a  master.  Lo,  the  gradual  progression  of  the  Pope's 
temporal  power  in  Great  Britain.  It  takes  its  first  rise 
from  the  piety, — acquires  additional  degrees  of  strength 
by  ambition, — and  is  confirmed  by  the  weakness  of  Eng- 
lish monarchs.  Hence  queen  Elizabeth's  excommuni- 
cation, and  the  absolution  of  her  subjects  from  their  alle- 
giance by  Pope  Sixtus,  were  more  owing  to  Peter's  pence 
than  to  Peter's  keys.  The  noise  of  the  thunder  of  the 
Vatican  did  not  reach  Sweden  or  Denmark,  becausa 
the  effluvia  of  their  mines,  and  the  filings  of  their  gold  were 
never  carried  by  royal  stipulations  into  the  regions  of  the 
Italian  atmosphere,  to  kindle  into  flames  and  cause  an  explo- 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  81 

sion.  But  queen  Elizabeth  could  not  have  pleaded  a  hun- 
dred years  prescription  against  the  court  of  Rome.  '  Pope 
'  Paul  IV.  was  surprised  at  her  boldness,  in  assuming  the 
4  crown,  a  fief  of  the  Holy  See,  without  his  consent.'*  Re- 
mark in  the  word  (fief)  a  temporal  claim,  but  no  divine 
title. 

If  from  Great  Britain  we  pass  into  Germany,  we  can  trace 
the  rise  and  progress  of  the  deposing  power,  in  the  grants  of 
crowned  heads,  in  pacts  and  stipulations,  and  in  mutual  fa- 
vours and  offices  of  friendship. 

In  the  eighth  century,  when  the  citizens  of  Rome  were 
harassed  by  the  Lombards,  and  slighted  by  the  Greeks, 
their  lawful  masters,  Charlemagne  marches  to  their  assist- 
ance, defeats  the  Lombards,  is  crowned  by  Pope  Leo  III. 
and  saluted  Emperor  by  the  senate  and  people  of  Rome. 
Nicephorus,  who  afterwards  usurped  the  throne  of  Constan- 
tinople, sends  Ambassadors  to  the  new  Emperor,  and  con- 
sents to  the  dismembering  of  an  empire  sinking  under  its 
own  weight,  and  exposed  to  the  first  soldier  of  fortune  who 
had  the  address  to  form  a  faction,  and  courage  to  plunge  the 
dagger  into  the  breast  of  the  tyrant  who  filled  the  throne. 
What  Leo  III.  has  done,  proves  no  right  (if  it  proves  any) 
but  that  of  the  law  of  nature,  which  authorizes  a  man, 
beset  by  his  enemies,  to  call  for  assistance  to  the  first 
who  is  willing  to  lend  it,  and  in  the  effusions  of  gratitude  to 
thank  his  deliverer.  Bellarmin  then  has  lost  his  labour  in 
in  writing  a  book,  to  prove  that  the  Pope  has  transferred  the 
Empire  from  the  Greeks  to  the  Germans,  the  better  to  give 
some  colour  to  the  '  baseless  fabric'  of  the  deposing  power ; 
for  Leo  III.  did  not  deprive  the  Eastern  princes  of  a  foot  of 
ground. 

The  Empress  Irene,  afterwards  dethroned  by  Nicephorus, 
retained  her  dominions  after  the  coronation  of  Charles,  who 
acquired  nothing  by  the  title  of  Emperor,  but  a  sounding 
compliment,  All  subsequent  accessions  were  either  by 
right  of  conquest,  the  tacit  or  express  consent  of  the  Greeks, 
or  the  choice  of  the  Senate  and  Roman  people,  who  pre- 
ferred a  powerful  and  useful  stranger,  to  a  weak  and  use- 
less master. 

The  compliment,  however,  laid  the  foundation  of  a  power 

*  Burnet; 


82 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 


strengthened  by  the  Emperor's  will,  sent  to  Rome  for  the 
Pope's  approbation,  and  raised  to  the  highest  altitude,  by 
Charles  the  Bald's  purchasing  the  Imperial  Crown,  for  a 
sum  of  money,  from  Pope  John  the  VIII.  Hence  federal 
tram  actii  ns,  promises  confirmed  by  oath,  pacts  and  stipula- 
tion between  Popes  and  Emperors,  who  used  to  swear  on 
St  Peters  lomb,  and  subscribe  the  conditions  imposed  on 
them.  In  the  great  struggles  between  the  two  powers,  the 
Pn\j£9.  grounded  their  claims  on  customs  and  oaths,  as  may 
bo  seen  in  several  passages  of  the  canon  law.  4  Adstringere 
4  vinculo  juramenti,'  says  Pope  Clement  V.  '  prout  tarn  nos 
4  observations  antiquae  temporibusnovissimisrenovata?,  quam 
4  forma  juramenti  hnjusmodi  sacris  inserta  canonibus  niani- 
4 1«  stant.'*  Jus  divinum,  divine  right,  or  a  plenitude  of  apos- 
ttfUc  power,  was  out  of  the  question. 

In  effect,  Sir,  before  the  tenth  century,  there  have  been  as 
bad  Kings,  and  good  Popes  as  ever  since.  The  cause  of 
religion  was  equally  interesting,  and  religion  itself  more  vio- 
lently persecuted.  The  Roman  Pontiffs  had  the  same  spi- 
ritual anthprity,  the  promotion  of  piety  and  faith  equally  at 
h  in  and  in  the  great  number  some  were  influenced  by  dif- 
ferent passions  and  views.  For  in  this  mortal  life,  we  all 
retain  some  impressions  of  the  frailty  of  our  religion. 

STet  neither  piety,  nor  ambition,  the  propagation  of  faith, 
nor  t :he  reformation  of  morals,  ever  induced  them  to  attempt 
the  deposing  of  kings,  or  arrogating  to  themselves  a  power 
disclaimed  bv  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  convicted  of  false- 
hood by  his  apostles,  and  unheard  of  in  the  church  for  the 
sppce  of  ten  ages.  Why  have  some  of  the  succeeding  pon- 
ti  s  deviated  from  the  primitive  path?  I  say  some,  because 
it  would  be  unjust  to  charge  them  all  alike.  They  are  dis- 
iinx  individuals  succeeding  one  another  in  the  same  throne, 
and  one  is  as  much  to  be  blamed  for  the  faults  of  his  prede- 
cessor, as  George  III.  is  accountable  for  the  licentiousness  of 
Cnarles  If. 

Why  have  some  of  them  deviated  from  the  primitive  path? 
It  is  that  they  had  prescription  and  privilege  to  plead,  oaths 
and  treaties  to  support  their  claims.  In  the  conduct  of 
kings,  choosing  them  for  arbiters  of  their  quarrels,  covers 

*  €lemeritin.  Roman.  Principi  de  jurej. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  83 

to  their  usurpations,  and  liege  lords  of  their  territories,  they 
found  a  specious  pretext  to  punish  the  infraction  of  treaties, 
and  the  breach  of  prerogative.  A  repetition  of  the  same  acts 
introduced  custom,  custom  obtained  the  power  of  law,  the 
law  bound  the  parties  concerned,  and  the  violation  of  the  law 
has*  been  attended  with  penalties.  Hence  the  deposition  of 
an  emperor  was  more  owing  to  the  code  and  pandects  of  Jus- 
tinian, than  to  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  The  Popes  who 
stretched  their  prerogative  beyond  the  bounds  of  modera- 
tion, were  blamed  by  the  Catholics  themselves,  whose  reli- 
gion was  in  no  wise  concerned  in  the  quarrels  of  their  supe- 
riors ;  and  the  few  enthusiastic  flatterers,  who  have  attempted 
to  lodge  Paul's  sivord  and  Peter's  keys  in  the  same  hand, 
and  to  make  an  universal  monarch  of  the  vicar  of  a  crucified 
God,  who  acknowledged  the  power  of  a  Heathen  magistrate, 
have  injured  religion,  and  betrayed  either  their  madness  or  ig- 
norance. They  have  confounded  fact  with  right,  the  unal- 
terable dogmas  of  fate  with  the  flux  and  changeable  customs 
of  men,  and  built  a  Chalcedon,  though  they  had  a  Byzantium 
before  their  eyes. 

They  should  have  considered,  that  the  church  pleads  an- 
tiquity, and  that  her  criterion  of  truth,  and  test  of  sound  doc- 
trine, is  that  golden  rule  of  Vincentius  Lerinensis  :  '  Quod 
*  semjv^r,  quod  ubique,  quod  ab  omnibus.'  '  What  has 
{  been  H  'd  ever,  and  every  where,  and  by  all,  ever.'  The 
deposing  \.  :>wer  was  never  heard  of,  for  the  space  of  one 
thousand  and  eighty-seven  years,  from  St.  Peter  to  Gre- 
gory VII :  a  great  chasm  this  !  And  the  chain  of  tradition 
must  be  very  short,  when  you  take  off  a  thousand  and  eighty- 
seven  links. 

The  Apostles  and  their  successors  preached  the  Christian 
doctrine  in  all  its  rigour.  They  taught  kings  to  cherish  the 
cross  in  their  hearts,  before  it  was  displayed  in  their  banners, 
and  to  prefer  a  heavenly  before  an  earthly  throne.  Had  they 
thought  (and  who  could  know  better  ?)  that  the  power  to  de- 
pose them,  and  to  absolve  their  subjects  from  their  allegiance, 
were  conducive  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  honour  of  reli- 
gion, they  never  would  have  concealed  it,  much  less  would 
they  have  commanded  to  obey  them. 

Every  where  and  by  all.     The  deposing  power,  though 


84  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

grounded,  as  I  remarked  before,  on  temporal  claims,  has  been 
opposed  by  the  Catholics  from  its  birth.  In  Germany,  by 
open  force  and  bloody  wars  :  in  Ireland,  whose  kings  and 
prelates  paid  no  attention  to  the  famous  bull  of  Pope  Adrian  ; 
in  England,  by  a  solemn  declaration,  16  Rich.  II.  Even 
under  Elizabeth,  a  Protestant  queen,  the  English  Catholics 
joined  their  sovereign,  and  paid  a  greater  regard  to  the  com- 
mand of  St.  Paul,  obey  the  prince,  than  to  the  dispensation  of 
Sixtus  Quintus,  or  the  expectation  cf  being  relieved  by  a 
Catholic  king :  which  made  the  Spanish  admiral  say,  '  that 

*  if  he  had  landed,  he  would  have  made  no  distinction  be- 
1  tween  a  Catholic  and  a  Protestant,  save  what  distinction  the 

*  point  of  his  sword  would  have  made  between  their  flesh.' 
I  believe  it ;  for  a  conqueror's  sword  is  an  undistinguishing 
weapon,  were  even  a  crucifix  tied  to  the  hilt  of  it..  la  inva- 
ding England,  it  is  the  enemy  of  Spain,  not  the  enemy  of  the 
mass,  the  Spaniards  would  attack  ;  where  they  here  this  in* 
stant,  they  would  not  deprive  a  Protestant  of  his  estate,  be- 
cause it  belonged  three  hundred  years  ago  to  some  old  Mi- 
lesian, whose  posterity  is  now  at  the  plough ;  it  would  not 
be  their  interest,  the  laws  of  conscience  and  conquest  for- 
bid it,  and  the  rivals  of  England  will  always  find  their  in- 
terest in  the  poverty  and  defenceless  situation  of  her  sub- 
jects. 

In  fine,  the  Pope's  temporal  power  has  been  baffled  by  the 
Venetians  in  their  contests  with  Paul  V.  And  in  France, 
whoever  would  argue  in  its  favour  would  be  confuted  with 
a  halter,  or  galley  chain. 

According  to  the  canen  law,  a  hundred  years  prescription 
in  temporals  can  be  pleaded  against  the  Church  of  Rome. — 
'  Contra  ecclesiam  Romanam  valet  prasscriptio  centum  anno- 

*  rum.'  A  hundred  years  and  more  have  elapsed,  since  no 
Pope  has  attempted  to  dispose  of  kingdoms,  or  absolve  sub- 
jects from  their  allegiance,  though  armies  have  been  poured 
into  the  Pope's  territories,  and  his  cities  taken  by  Catholic 
princes.  Out  of  his  own  states,  his  temporal  prerogative  is 
confined  to  a  palfrey  he  receives  from  the  king  of  Naples 
every  year,  as  a  customary  homage.  The  two  late  Popes 
have  absolutely  disclaimed  any  temporal  power  over  kings. 
Thus,  things  have  returned  back  into  the  former  channel  of 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  85 

primitive  simplicity  :  God  has  his  own,  and  Ceesar  his  due  .* 
and  the  two  powers  which  men  had  confounded,  and  blended 
into  one  Delphian  sword,  equally  adapted  to  the  ministry  of 
the  altar  and  profane  uses,  arc  again  divided. 

In  tracing  thus  the  temporal  power,  we  have  chosen  a  me- 
dium between  the  enthusiasm  of  some  Italians,  and  the  pre- 
judices of  their  antagonists.  The  picture  drawn  by  those 
different  painters,  is  all  light  or  shadow.  In  resolving  it  into 
the  grants  of  kings  and  civil  contracts,  prescription  and  a 
colourable  title,  as  its  first  principles,  we  prefer  the  middle 
tints :  and  in  measuring  the  portrait  by  this  rule,  we  give  it 
its  due  dimensions. 

But  in  binding  the  pontiff's  hands,  and  denying  him  any 
power  directly  or  indirectly  in  temporals,  I  solemnly  declare 
that  I  do  not  mean  to  derogate  in  the  least  from  his  spiritual 
supremacy.  A  vindication  of  my  character  calls  for  this  de- 
claration: as  two  divines  of  my  communion  have  censured 
the  following  passages  of  the  seventh  letter  to  Michael  Ser- 
vetus. 

In  mentioning  the  belief  of  Rome  and  Geneva,  concern- 
ing the  immortality  of  the  soul,  &c.  I  have  made  use  of 
the  expressions,  *  their  rule  of  faith  is  different :  but  these 
•'fundamentals  of  religion  are  entirely  expunged  from  your 
*  ritual.'  Here  I  was  charged  with  admitting  the  famous 
distinction  between  fundamentals  and  non- fundamentals:  but 
the  truth  of  this  charge  I  absolutely  deny. 

1  Let  the  word,  Church,  be  understood  of  the  collective 
1  body  of  Christians,'  &c.  Here  again  I  was  represented  as 
a  Latitudinarian.  But  with  submission  to  my  censors,  they 
mistook  my  meaning.  To  alledge  the  authority  of  the  Church 
of  Rome,  against  a  writer  who  denies  it,  is  to  commit  a  gross 
fault  against  the  rules  of  logic.  It  is  a  petitio  principd,  or 
begging  the  question.  If  ever  they  argue  in  this  manner, 
when  the  dispute  turns  on  articles  believed  by  Christians  of 
all  denominations,  I  believe  they  would  glorify  God  more  by 
prayer  and  silence  :  for  a  bad  argument  is  an  injury  to 
truth. 

To  some,  this  apology  may  seem  unnecessary,  but  not  so 
to  me,  whose  character  has  been  injured  by  the  imputation  of 
a  double  doctrine :    I  who   am   bound  not  to    scandalize 


80  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS 

a  weak  brother,  and  who,  were  I  even  the  first  pastor  of 
the  Church,  should  be  as  docile  to  her  voice,  as  the  least 
of  her  children. 

ART,  VI. 

'And,  I  do  solemnly,  in  the  presence  of  God,  and  of  his 
'only  Son  Jesus  Christ  our  Redeemer,  profess,  testify, 
'  and  declare,  that  I  do  make  this  declaration,  and  every 
'  part  thereof,  in  the  plain  and  ordinary  sense  of  the 
'  words  of  this  oath,  without  any  evasion,  equivocation, 
'  or  mental  reservation,  whatever ;  and  without  any  dis- 
'  pensation  already  granted  by  the  Pope,  or  any  autho- 
'  rity  of  the  See  of  Rome,  or  any  person  whatever ;  and 
'  without  thinking  I  am  or  can  be  acquitted  before  God 
'  or  man,  or  absolved  of  this  declaration,  or  any  part 
'  thereof,  although  the  Pope  or  any  other  person  or  per- 
'  sons,  or  any  authority  whatsoever,  shall  dispense  with, 
'  or  annul  the  same,  or  declare  that  it  was  null  and  void 
'  from  the  beeinninar. ' 

This  last  paragraph  excludes  amphibologies,  evasions, 
equivocations,  and  mental  reservations  eversive  of  natural 
candour  and  Christian  sincerity, — branded  by  the  pastors  of 
the  Church  with  the  odious  qualifications  of  '  rash,  scan- 
'dalous,  pernicious,  erroneous,  opening  the  way  to  lies, 
'frauds,  perjury,  and  contrary  to  Scripture,'  as  may  be  seen 
in  the  catalogue  of  relaxed  propositions  condemned  by  Pope 
Innocent  XL  and  the  clergy  of  France,*  and  detested  by  the 
very  heathens : 

'  Ille  uiihi  in  visus  pariter  eiun  faucibus  Orci, 

'  Gujus  mens  aliud  cond.it  qiium  ling-ua  profatur.' 

Upon  these  principles,  the  Catholics  have  taken  the 
oath :  and  on  these  principles,  it  can  be  safely  taken.  It 
proposes  nothing  to  their  abhorrence  and  detestation,  but 
what  they  really  abhor  and  detest :  it  requires  no  promise 
but  what  is  just  and  lawful. 

But  as  the  oath  is  complicate,  and  perplexed  with  a  variety 
of  phrases- — as  it  minces  even  a  syllable — and  that  the  letter 

*  Proposilio  27,  inter  Gondeuniatas  ab  Iunoc.  XI. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  87 

seems  to  clash  with  the  spirit — it  is  not  surprising  if  many 
objections  have  been  started  against  it. 

Objections  from  the  Hibernian  Journal. 

First :  '  In  swearing  to  support  the  succession  of  the 
4  crown  in  his  Majesty's  family,  I  bind  myself  to  that  which 
4  there  is  a  possibility  a  loyal  subject  to  the  constitution 
4  might  not  have  in  his  power  to  perform.' 

Answer.  You  are  not  bound  to  impossibilities,  neither 
does  the  oath  require  it,  whereas  it  expresses,  '  to  the 
4  utmost  of  my  power.' 

Second :  '  I  am  bound  to  take  the  oath  in   the  plain  and 

*  ordinary  sense  of  the  words;  consequently,  though  untrained 

*  to  arms,  and  unskilled  in  military  discipline,  I  must  run 
4  to  the  field  of  battle,  in  case  of  invasion  or  rebellion: 
'otherwise  I  do  not  exert  myself  to  the  utmost  of  my  power.' 

Answer:  You    serve   your  king  to  4  the  utmost  of  your 

*  power,'  by  remaining  at  home.  You  would  only  cause  dis- 
order :  and  an  army  in  disorder  flies  to  the  slaughter-house, 
not  to  victory:  'Won  ad  victoriam,  sed  ad  lanienam.'*  The 
magistrate  supports  the  king, 4  to  the  utmost  of  his  power,' 
in  maintaining  the  public  peace  :  the  surgeon  in  dressing  the 
soldier's  wounds :  the  clergyman,  in  preaching  loyalty  and 
subordination,  regularity  and  good  morals,  fraternal  love  and 
mutual  benevolence.  The  king  requires  no  more  :  and,  as 
you  write  a  great  deal  under  the  signature  of  4  An  old 
4  Derryman,'  all  his  majesty  expects  from  one  of  your  age 
4  is  to  light  the  fire,  and  to  be  hospitable,  when  his  soldiers 
4  are  quartered  on  you.' 

Third  :  4  In  swearing  that  I  cannot  be  absolved  of  this  alle- 
4  giance,  by  any  authority  whatsoever,  I  deny  the  supremacy 
4  of  the  lords  and  commons.' 

Answer.  Your  objection  is  grounded  on  error.  The 
supreme  power  of  the  state  is  vested  in  the  parliament,  com- 
posed of  king,  lords,  and  commons.! 

Fourth:  k  What  happened  once  may  happen  again.  If 
4  the  king  attempts  to  overturn  the  constitution,  1  must  help 
4  him,  if  I  pay  any  regard  to  my  oath,  and  thus  betray  my 
4  country  :  or  perjure  myself,  if  I  refuse  assistance.' 

*  Vejetius  de  re  Militari,        f  Blackstoue's  Comment.  B,  1.  Ch.  2,  p.  147g 

If 


88  MISCELLANEOUS     TRACTS. 

Answer.  Lest  '  what  hath  happened  once,  may  happen 
again,'  say  with  the  royal  prophet,  '  Domine  salvum  fac  re- 
gem,'  '  God  save  the  king.'  However,  to  aliay  your  anxieties, 
remember  that  subjectsdo  not  swear  to  kings,  as  robbers 
or  pirates  swear  to  their  leaders.  You  are  not  bound  to 
help  a  king  in  his  attempts  against  the  laws  of  God  and  na- 
ture, when  you  have  clear  evidence  that  his  attempts  tend  to 
the  subversion  of  both;  neither  doth  the  test  require, 
whereas,  *  true  allegiance,'  is  expressly  mentioned.  But 
in  a  doubt  you  are  bound  to  obey,  because  in  a  doubt 
concerning  the  rectitude  of  their  intentions,  or  the  jus- 
tice of  their  cause,  presumption  is  in  favour  of  your  supe- 
riors. 

What  a  kingdom!  if  all  the  inhabitants  were  astronomers, 
metaphysicians,  and  casuists,  who  would  neither  obey  nor 
promise  to  be  loyal  to  their  sovereigns,  until  they  would 
have  read  in  the  stars  the  fate  of  the  constitution,  and  ex- 
plored the  remote  regions  of  metaphysics,  in  search  of  the 
essential  and  demonstrative  relations  of  unalterable  truth  to 
Magna  Charta;  Gulliver's  floating  island  would  be  the  fittest 
kingdom  for  such  aerial  inhabitants. 

Further:  If  the  remote  and  possible  danger  of  the  con- 
stitution's overthrow,  or  the  subversion  of  the  fundamental 
laws  of  any  realm,  were  a  sufficient  objection  against  oaths 
of  allegiance,  either  all  the  distinguished  subjects  of  the 
world  are  perjured,  or  no  king  is  entitled  to  their  allegiance. 
For  in  swearing  to  their  respective  sovereigns,  I  do  not  be- 
lieve that  British  peers,  French  nobles,  or  Spanish  grandees, 
with  all  the  delicacy  of  honour,  Catholic  or  Protestant, 
bishops,  with  all  their  divinity,  use  the  following  form  of 
words :  '  I  will  bear  allegiance  to  your  majesty,  if  you 
'  behave  as  an  honest  man,  and  do  not  overturn  the  consti- 
4  tution.' 

Before  the  royal  head  is  encircled  with  the  diadem,  the 
monarch  obtests  the  awful  name  of  the  Divinity,  and  swears 
that  he  will  govern  his  subjects  in  'justice  and  mercy.'  They 
acknowledge  their  sovereign,  and  swear  to  be  loyal.  His 
future  conduct,  and  the  inconstancy  of  his  will,  are  left  to 
him  who  holds  in  his  hands  the  hearts  of  kings,  who,  by  the 
laws  of  England,  'can  do  no  wrong.'  The  legislative  power 
retains  a  right,  and  has  the  means  of  examining  in  what 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  8i) 

manner  the  laws  are  executed  or  infringed,  by  bringing  the 
king's  counsellors  to  a  strict  account.  '  But  whatever  may 
4  be  the  issue  of  this  examination,'  says  Montesquieu,  '  the 
4  kind's  person  is  sacred,  the  moment  lie  is  arraigned  or 
'  tried,  there  is  an  end  of  liberty.'*  The  constitution  then  is 
equally  in  danger  of  being  overturned  by  a  refusal  of  alle- 
giance, 4  applicable  not  only  to  the  regal  office  of  the  king, 
'  but  to  the  natural  person  and  blood  royal. '| 

Objections  from  the  Hibernian  Jllagazine. 

First :  4  No  man  can  safely  swear  to  a  thing  of  which  he 
'  is  not  certain.  Now  the  test  obliges  the  Catholics  to  de- 
4  cide  by  oath,  that  they  have  positive  and  clear  reasons  not 
4  to  believe  that  any  foreign  prince  ought  to  have  any  civil 
4  pre-eminence  within  this  realm.  Now,  what  individual 
4  can  pretend  to  so  deep  an  insight  into  the  much  debated 
4  rights  of  princes,  as  to  determine  with  certainty  on  so  dif- 
4  ficult  and  so  abstruse  a  question  ;  especially  as  the  words 
4  ought  and  right,  extend  to  any  kind  of  right,  whether  na- 
4  tural,  i.  e.  by  right  of  blood,  or  acquired  ?' 

Answer.  The  test  obliges  the  Catholics  to  no  such 
thing.  All  it  requires  is  a  negative  belief,  or  a  suspence 
of  belief,  concerning  the  rights  of  foreign  princes,  (and 
I  do  declare  that  I  do  not  believe.)  The  paragraph  is 
worded  in  a  negative  stile.  But  in  a  negative  oath,  igno- 
rance of  another  man's  right  exculpates  the  person  who 
swears,  from  perjury.  A  familiar  example  will  set  ths 
matter  in  a  clear  light.  Paul  is  in  possession  of  a  farm  from 
time  immemorial ;  this  possession,  and  several  other  strong 
reasons  incline  me  to  believe,  that  he  is  the  only  rightful 
and  lawful  owner.  Peter  revives  a  dormant  claim,  which 
in  my  opinion  is  but  a  shadow.  A  magistrate  interrogates 
me  in  this  manner :  Do  you  believe  that  Peter  ought  to  have 
a  right  to  PauPs  farm?  I  answer,  I  do  declare,  that  I  do  not 
believe  it.  In  the  name  of  goodness,  whatever  Peter's  title 
may  be,  do  1  perjure  myself  in  swearing  to  what  is  reallv 
my  opinion? 

*  Spirit  of  Laws.   vol.  1.  p.  181. 

■\   Blackstonc's  Cumneot.  vol.  1.  p.  371. 


90  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

The  word  right  is  not  mentioned  in  the  oath,  and  in  case 
it  were,  the  objector's  distinction,  betwixt  natural  and  ac- 
quired would  give  him  no  advantage  ;  for  with  regard  to 
civil  pre-eminence  and  jurisdiction  over  free  states,  there  is 
no  right  when  the  laws  of  nations  are  against  it. 

In  France,  the  Salique  law  excludes  females  from  inherit- 
ing the  throne.  Has  the  king's  eldest  daughter  any  right  to 
it?  In  Portugal,  where  the  crown  is  hereditary,  the  law 
disqualifies  every  stranger  who  lays  claim  to  the  throne  by 
right  of  blood.  Have  foreign  princes,  though  related 
to  the  royal  family,  any  right  to  civil  pre-eminence  within  that 
realm  ? 

Second :  '  The  words,  ought  to  have,  seem  to  have  a  re- 
'  trospect  to  the  revolution,  whereby  James  II.  was 
4  deprived    of  the    throne,  because  he  was  a  Roman  Ca- 

*  tholic-:  for  some  members  have  affirmed,  that  no  one 
'  could  take  this  oath,  but  on  revolution  principles.  If  this 
'be  so,  I  swear  what  is  equivalent  to  this — The  being  a  Roman 
4  Catholic  is  a  just  and  reasonable  disqualification  for  not  enjoy- 
4  ing  hereditary    right.      What    Protestant    in    his    senses 

*  would  not  think  me  perjured  when  I  swear  in  this 
manner.' 

Answer.  Every  Protestant,  if  such  were  the  meaning  of 
the  oath ;  but  neither  the  sense  nor  the  letter  of  the  oath  is 
susceptible  of  such  a  forced  construction.  The  framers  of 
the  test  have  blended  together  an  oath  of  allegiance,  and  the 
old  declaration  against  Popery,  compiled  by  James  I.  In 
this  declaration,  the  words  ran  thus :  '  And  I  do  declare, 
1  that  I  do  not  believe  that  the  Pope  of  Rome,  &c.  hath  or 
4  ousrht  to  have*  any  authority,  ecclesiastical  or  spiritual, 
4  within  this  realm.'  By  this  declaratien  translated  into 
English,  and  still  to  be  seen  in  the  statutes,  the  Roman 
Catholics  were  obliged  to  renounce  the  Pope's  spiritual  su- 
premacy, otherwise  they  had  nothing  to  expect  but  halters 
and  gibbets  from  our  beloved  Stuarts.  The  Senators  of  1775, 
more  humane  than  the  royal  pedant  of  1603,  have  expunged 
in  favour  of  distressed  subjects,  the  words  ecclesiastical  and 
spiritual,  and  substituted  temporal  and  civil  in  their  place. 
Thus  have  they  enabled  the  Catholics,  to  testify  their  loyalty 

*  Habet  rel  debet  habere. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  91 

without  swearing    against  their    conscience.     The    words 

*  ought  to  have,'  have  then  no  retrospect  to  James  II.  who  de- 
prived himself  of  the  throne,  by  quitting  the  realm,  after 
having  abdicated  the  constitution,  by  arrogating  to  himself  a 
dispensing  power. 

Third  :  '  Marriage  is  founded  on  a  civil  contract,  though 

*  of  divine  institution,  and  a  sacrament  in  the  belief  of  Catho- 

*  lies.  In  denying  the  Pope's  civil  power  directly  or  indi- 
1  rectly  ivitkin  this  realm,  so  far  at  least  I  deny  the  church's 

*  authority  over  a  sacrament.' 

Answer.  A  flat  sophism  !  The  Pope  has  no  civil  power 
direct  or  indirect  in  this  realm,  over  any  sacrament,  but  a  spi- 
ritual power  ratione  Sacramentiy  precisely  as  a  sacrament, 
and  so  far  it  is  a  spiritual  thing.  In  virtue  of  my  ordina- 
tion, I  have  power  to  consecrate  bread  and  wine  ;  have  I 
any  civil  power  over  the  baker's  shop,  or  the  vintner's  cel- 
lar? 

Fourth :  *  I  swear  that  I  do  not  think  that  I  can  be  ab- 
'  solved  of  this  declaration,  or  any  part  thereof,  although  any 

*  authority  whatsoever  shall  dispense  with  or  annul  the  same. 

*  Now,  'authority  whatsoever'  is  of  universal  import.  It  in- 
'  eludes  the  supreme  authority  of  the  state,  the  authority  of 
'  God  himself.  Can  a  Catholic  or  Protestant  swear  that 
'  neither  God,  nor  the  state  can  absolve  him  of  any  part  of  this 
'  declaration,  whereas  God  can  deprive  a  tyrannical  king  of 
'  his  throne,  and  the  supreme  authority  of  the  state  can  ab- 
'  solve  a  subject  from  his  allegiance,  and  permit  him  to  retire 
'  to  whatever  place  he  chooses,  as  a  master  can  manumit  a 
'  slave.' 

Answer.     By  '  authority  whatsoever,'  is  not  meant  the  au- 
thority of  God,  nor  the  supreme  authority  of  the  state,  but 
%  the  authority  of  Rome,  or  foreign  authority. 

Fifth.     '  The  oath  is  to  be  taken  in  the  plain  and  ordinary 
\  '  sense  of  words.     Authority  whatsoever,  in  the  plain  and  or- 
'  dinary  sense  of  the  words  includes  the  authority  of  God 
'  and  the  state.' 

Answer.  The  plain  and  ordinary  sense  of  any  word,  is 
the  sense  annexed  to  it,  by  the  common  consent  and  custom 
of  mankind,  according  to  their  respective  idioms  and  lan- 
guages :  but  in  any  legal  act,  mankind  never  extends  the 
words  'authority  whatsoever,'  to  the  authority  of  God,  who 


92  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTa. 

is  above  the  controul  of  human  laws,  nor  to  the  supreme  au- 
thority of  the  state,  which  is  never  presumed  to  bintfitsown 
hands,  whereas  it  is  an  invariable  maxim  in  human  laws,  that 
the  same  power  which  enacts  them,  can  repeal  and  dispense 
with  them.     l  Per  quascunque  causes  res  nascitur,  per  eas- 

*  dem  solvitur.' 

Sixth  :  '  The  oath  forbids  mental  reservations  on  pain  of 
'  perjury.  Now  mental  reservation  is  a  proposition,  which 
1  taken  according  to  the  natural  import  of  the  terms,  is 
'  false  ;  such  is  this  proposition,  I  declare  that  no  authority 
1  whatsoever  can  dispense  with  any  part  of  this  oath  ;  ac- 
1  cording  to  the  natural  import  of  the  terms,  it  is  false,  be- 

*  cause  God  and  the  state  can  dispense  with  a  part  of  it :  but 
'  if  qualified  by  something  concealed  in  the  mind  (v.  g.  ex- 
t  cept  God  or  the  state)  it  becomes  true.     In  that  vt  ry  pro- 

*  position,  there  is  a  mental  reservation,  the  great  refuge  of 
'  religious  hypocrites,   who  accommodate  their  consciences 

*  with  their  interests.' 

Answer.  The  definition  is  just,  but  proves  nothing.  For 
reservations  were  introduced  in  order  to  deceive  the  person  to 
whom  we  swear.  But  the  magistrates,  in  whose  presence  we 
take  the  oath,  know  that  by  authority  whatsoever,  is  not  meant 
the  authority  of  God,  nor  that  of  the  state. 

Seventh  :  '  The  last  paragraph  of  the  test,  tends  to  con- 
'  tradict  an  established  doctrine   of  the   Catholic  Church, 

*  which  is,  that  in  the  Church  there  is  vested  a  power  of  ex- 

*  amining  into  the  nature  of  oaths,  (which  are  acts  of  reli- 
'  gion)  and  of  determining  whether  they  be,  or  be  not  law- 
'  ful.' 

Answer.  The  test  does  not  deprive  the  Church  of  the 
power  of  examining  into  the  lawfulness  of  oaths.  The  last 
paragraph  is  entirely  levelled  against  the  dispensing  power  : 
the  right  of  examination  is  quite  out  of  the  question. 
Without  thinking  that  I  can  be  acquitted  of  this  declaration, 
&c. 

Eighth.     *  A  fundamental  article  of  the  Catholic  faith,  is 

*  the  infallibility  of  the  Church.  This  article  is  reversed  by 
1  these  words,  without  thinking  that  I  am  or  can  be  acquitted 
1  of  any  part  of  this  declaration,  although  the  Pope  or  any  au- 
'  thority  whatsoever,  shall  declare  that  it  ivas  null  and  void 
'from  the  beginning.     In  fine,  in  taking  the  oath,  a  Catholic 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  93 

*  must  reason  in  this  manner.  It  is  an  article  of  my  faith, 
'that  the  church  is  infallible;   the   pillar  of  truth,   says  St. 

*  Paul,  which  the  powers  of  hell  can  never  overthrow,  accord- 
ing to  the  promise  of  Christ.  Now  should  the  church  de- 
'  clare,  that  this  oath  is  null  and  void  from  the  beginning,  I 
'bind  mvself  by  oath  not  to  believe  her.  Is  this  consistent 
'  with  the  principles  of  a  Catholic  ?     To  believe  that   the 

*  church  is  an  infallible  guide,  and  to  bind  himself  by  a  so- 
'lemnoath  not  to  believe  her,  although  she  should  define 
'contrary  to  his  opinion  !' 

Answer.  A  Catholic  should  sooner  expire  on  the  wheel, 
thin  take  an  oath  implying  an  abjuraiion  of  any  point 
of  his  religion.  We  have  not  here  a  permanent  city, 
and  in  suffering  with  uprightness  and  integrity  for 
conscience'  sake,  we  expect  a  better.  We  know  that  life 
is  short,  that  the  Christian  is  condemned  to  the  cross,  and 
that  the  pampered  tyrant  as  well  as  the  oppressed  slave, 
must  appear  naked  at  the  awful  tribunal  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

We  are  not  to  court  the  favours  of  government  at  the  ex- 
pense of  conscience ;  neither  does  the  oath  impose  such  a 
rigorous  condition. 

The  words,  '  without  thinking  that  I  am  or  can  be  acquit* 
1  ted  of  this  declaration,  although  the  Pope,  or  any  authority 
'  whatsoever,  shall  declare  that  it  was  null  and  void  from  the 
'  beginning,'  these  words,  I  say,  mean  no  more  than  that 
you  are  convinced  of  tke  truth  of  what  you  swear;  and  that, 
in  case  of  a  dispensation  you  think  yourself  still  bound  to 
keep  your  oath.  For  the  words,  'acquitted,  absolved,'  re- 
gard the  dispensing  power.  Now  that  the  doctrines 
mentioned  in  the  declaration,  are  not  our  real  principles, 
has  been  sufficiently  proved;  and  reason,  as  well  as  religion, 
informs  us,  that  a  dispensation  granted  against  the  law  of  God, 
or  good  morals,  '  cannot  acquit  or  absolve  us  before  God  and 
'  man.'  '  It  is  not  a  faithful  dispensation,'  says  St.  Bernard, 
'but  a  cruel  dissipation.'  '  Non  fidelis  dispensatio,  sed 
'crudelis  dissipatio.'* 

Ninth :  '  Let  us  suppose  that  the  church  shall  declare  the 
1  oath  nidi  and  void  from  the  beginning,  you  bind  yourself 
'  by  oath  not  to  believe  her ;  and  thus  renounce  your  religion 
1  under  cover  of  loyalty.' 

*  De  Dispensatione  et  Pracepto, 


94  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

Answer.  I  do  not  bind  myself  by  oath  not  to  believe  the 
church  in  her  doctrinal  decision ;  I  only  swear  that  '  I  do  not 
1  think  myself  acquitted  or  absolved'  of  my  obligations,  by  a 
dispensation  granted  by  the  Pope,  &c.  The  last  paragraph, 
as  I  remarked  before,  is  entirely  levelled  against  the  dispens- 
ing povver. 

Our  legislators  know,  that  the  infallibility  of  the  church 
is  a  tenet  of  Roman  Catholics.  By  the  very  preamble 
of  the  act,  they  enable  us  to  give  public  assurances  of 
our  allegiance,  without  prejudice  to  our  real  principles. 
In  swearing  that  '  I  do  not  think  myself  acquitted  of  this 

*  declaration,  although  the  Pope,  or  any  authority  what- 
1  soever,  shall  declare  that  it  was  null  and  void  from  the  be- 
'  ginning,'  I  do  not  mean  to  deny  the  infallibility  of  the 
church,  nor  the  authority  of  God,  nor  even  the  supreme  au- 
thority of  the  state  ;  and  the  magistrate,  in  whose  presence  I 
swear,  knows  that  it  is  not  my  intention.  As  there  is  no  de- 
sign on  one  part,  nor  deception  on  the  other,  I  neither  re- 
nounce my  faith,  nor  perjure  myself,  although  the  severity 
of  the  letter  seems  to  import  one,  or  the  other,  or  both.  Oaths 
and  laws  are  liable  to  interpretations :  and  one  general  rule 
prevails  over  the  world,  viz.  '  That  a  greater  stress  is  to  be 
Maid  on  the  sense,  than  on  the  words.'  'It  is  not  to  be 
'  doubted,'  says  the  emperor  Justinian,  '  but  that  he  acts  con- 

*  trary  to  the  law,  who,  confining  himself  to  the  letter,  acts 
'  contrary  to  the  spirit,  and  intent  of  it:  and  whoever,  to  excuse 
1  himself,  endeavours  fraudulently  to  elude  the  true  sense  of  a 

*  law,  by  rigorous  attachment  to  the  words  of  it,  shall  not 
'escape  its  penalties  by  such  prevarication.'  '  Non  dubium 
'  est  in  lege  committere  eum,  qui  verba  legis  amplexus,  con- 
'  tra  legis  nititur  voluntatem :  nee  pcenas  insertas  legibus 
'  evitabit,  qui  se  contra  juris  sententiam  sasva  praerogativa 
'  verborum  fraudulenter  excusat.' 

'  Whoever  swears,  must  do  it  according  to  the  intention 
'  of  him  to  whom  he  swears,  let  the  mode  and  form  of  the 
4  expressions  be  what  they  will,'  says  St.  Isidorus.    '  Qua- 

*  cumque  arte  verborum  quisque  juret,  Deus  tamen,  qui  con- 
4  scientiae  testis  est,  ita  hoc  accipit,  sicut  ille,  cui  juratur,  in- 
'  telligit.'*      Far   from  renouncing   the  infallibility  of  the 

»  Isidoins  apud  Gratianum.  22.  9.  5.  c.  9. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACT.S.  95 

church,  which  is  neither  the  purport  of  the  oath,  nor 
the  design  of  a  Catholic  who  takes  it,  1  am  convinced 
that  the  unerring  spirit  that  guides  her,  will  never  permit 
her  to  define  as  an  article  of  faith,  any  proposition  rejected 
in  the  test,  or  sanctify  any  doctrine  against  the  institution 
of  Christ. 

Faith  is  founded  on  revelation ;  and  the  church  can  never 
make  a  new  article  of  faith.  She  can  only  declare  what 
has  been  revealed,  to  prevent  the  chaff  of  human  opinions 
from  mixing  with  the  pure  grain  of  the  Evangelical  doc- 
trine. 

Supposing  that  faith  is  founded  on  revelation,  and  that,  as 
the  bishop  of  Meaux  remarks,  after  Christ  there  is  no  new 
revelation,  for  in  him  is  the  plenitude — the  Catholics  rest 
secure  that  it  is  out  of  the  church's  power,  to  declare  that 
their  oath  is  null  and  void  ;  as  it  is  out  of  her  power  to  de- 
clare that  fraud,  murder,  and  perjury  are  lawful.  This 
shall  appear  by  analyzing  the  oath. 

First : '  Has  God  revealed  that  I  am  not  to  bear  true  alle- 
4  giance  to  George  III.  or  to  renounce  any  allegiance  to  the 
4  Pretender  ?  If  he  has  revealed  it,  Pope  Clement  XIII. 
4  died  an  heretic?  he  banished  an  Irish  superior  for  compli- 
4  menting  the  Pretender  with  the  title  of  King  of  Great  Bri- 
4  tain.'' 

Second :  4  Has  God  revealed,  that  I  can  lawfully  and 
4  piously  murder  my  fellow-creature,  and  break  a  just  pro- 
4  mise,  or  refuse  paying  what  I  owe  him,  because  he  is  of  a 
4  different  religion  ?' 

Third  :  4  Has  God  revealed  that  I  am  to  believe  that  Popes 
4  and  foreign  princes  ought  to  have  any  civil  authority  within 
4  this  realm  ?' 

Fourth  :  4  Has  God  revealed,  that  kings  can  be  deposed 
4  and  murdered  by  their  subjects,  because  they  are  excom- 
*  municated  by  the  Pope  and  council  ?' 

There  is  the  whole  substance  of  the  oath :  and  as  God  has 
not  revealed  any  of  those  assertions,  but  commanded  the 
reverse,  the  church  can  never  declare  them  as  articles  of 
faith.  Did  St.  Paul  mean  to  renounce  the  authority  of  Hea- 
ven, when  he  said,  4  should  an  angel  from  Heaven  preach 
4  another  doctrine,  do  not  believe  him  ?'  Does  a  Catholic 
renounce  the  authority  of  the  church,  in  not  thinking  that 

o 


96  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

she  can  allow  perjury?  But  if  such  he  the  case,  you  will 
ask  nie,  '  why  some  people  have  written  against  this  oath  ?' 
or,  why  4  the  small  number  of  Catholics  have  not  united 
«  with  the  great  number  who  have  taken  it  ?' 

I  can  assure  you,  Sir,  that  the  Catholics  who  have  not 
taken  the  oath,  look  on  the  deposing  power  as  a  dream;  the 
murder  of  heretics  as  an  impious  slander,  calculated  in  times 
of  turbulence;  to  murder  the  character  of  the  innocent,  and 
only  adapted  to  those  distant  aeras,  when  'Papists  attempted 
4  to  blow  up  a  river,  with  gun-powder,  in  order  to  drown  a 
4  city.'*  in  line, they  are  ready  to  swear  allegiance  to  George 
the  Third,  and  renounce  any  allegiance  to  the  Stuarts. 

tt  ihe  chief  exception  to  the  oath  is — the  manner  in 
>vhich  it  is  worded.  It  must  be  taken  in  '  the  plain  and  or- 
4  dihary  sense  of  the  words.'  4  This  cannot  be  reconciled 
4  v  •!/.  any  authority  whatsoever.'  A  Catholic  abjures  upon 
oaiii  a  doctrine  he  never  believed.  Abjuration  implies  the 
belief  of  a  previous  error.  4  Foreign  princes  ought  not  to 
4  have,'  &'c.  How  can  subjects  know?  or  what  is  it  to  them? 
4  Without  any  dispensation  already  granted.'  You  suppose 
then  that  we  have  a  dispensation  to  perjure  ourselves;  con- 
sequently it  is  nugatory  to  swear,  when  you  are  enabled  not 
to  believe  us.  It  is  too  dangerous  to  sport  with  the  awful 
name  of  the  Divinity :  and  if  a  free-thinker  reverenced  the 
Supreme  Being,  his  conscience  would  be  screwed  in  taking 
an  oath  which  minces  a  syllable,  and  requires  a  long  com- 
mentary. Further  :  Every  invader,  every  usurper,  would 
avail  himself  of  a  similar  oath.  In  Ireland,  he  would  find 
it  framed  to  his  hand,  and  makes  us  swear  4  that  George  the 
4  Third  ought  to  have  no  authority  within  this  realm,'  though 
the  lawful  king  would  be  at  the  same  time  asserting  his 
right  in  England.  The  alternative  would  be;  death  or 
perjury. 

Such  are  the  exceptions  of  the  few  who  have  not  taken 
the  oath. :  exceptions  not  to  be  disregarded  by  those,  with 
whom  they  may  have  any  weight.  For  an  oath  is  dreadful 
in  itself:  arid  we  can  never  act  against  the  dictates  of  an 
erroneous  conscience,  till  our  scruples  are  removed,  'Quod 
non  est  ex  fide,  peccatum  est.' 

*  Walker,  p.  349.     Hutue,  Hist,  of  England,  Vol.  I.  ' 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  97 

Here  below  '  we  see  in  a  glass  darkly,'  says  St.  Paul.  Pro- 
vidence has  thrown  a  sable  veil  over  the  human  intellect.— 
The  scripture  itself  this  law  of  spirit  and  life,  proposed  as  a 
rule  to  the  learned  and  ignorant,  is  become  the  Subject  of 
disputes  and  controversies.  All  legal  acts  are  liable  to  ip- 
conveniencies.  It  is  impossible  for  the  legislators  who  devise 
them,  to  read  in  the  minds  of  otiier  men,  the  doubts  which 
may  arise  concerning  the  sense  and  force  of  some  expres- 
sions.    Hence,  new  acts  to  explain  and  amend  former  laws. 

Should  the  wisdom  of  the  legislative  powers  deign  to  re.- 
duce  the  oath  to  a  few  plain  words,  whereby  we  should  swear 
allegiance  to  his  Majesty ;  renounce  any  to  the  Stuarts  ; 
swear  never  to  maintain  nor  abet  any  doctrine  Inconsist  nt 
with  the  rights  of  sovereigns,  the  security  of  our  fellow-sub- 
jects, nor  ever  to  accept  of  any  dispensation  to  the  con- 
trary— all  the  ends  of  government  would  be  fully  answered, 
and  the  few  scrupulous  Catholics,  who  cavil  about  wc  res, 
would  join  the  great  numbers  who  have  proceeded  upon 
more  enlarged  and  liberal  principles. 

Should  our  neighbours  doubt  the  delicacy  of  our  con- 
sciences, when  we  swear,  we  have  no  argument  to  convince 
them,  but  the  following  : 

We  groan  under  the  yoke  of  mysery  and  oppression, 
throughout  the  long  and  trying  periods  of  six  successive 
reigns.  We  suffer  for  crimes  we  have  never  committed. 
The  punishment,  which  according  to  all  laws  should  finish 
with  the  delinquent,  is  entailed  on  the  innocent  posterity  to 
the  fourth  and  fifth  generation,  by  a  rigorous  severity,  simi- 
lar to  that  of  those  Tuscan  princes,  who  used  to  fasten  living 
men  to  dead  bodies.  The  laws,  which  in  other  countries  are 
the  resource  and  protection  of  the  errant  pilgrim,  are  here 
the  mortal  enemies  of  the  settled  natives.  These  abortives 
of  the  Stuart  race  reign  uncontrouled  a  long  time  after  the 
death  of  their  inauspicious  progenitors.  On  every  part  they 
spread  penal  bitterness,  with  an  unwearied  hand;  deal  out 
transportation  to  the  clergy;  poverty  and  distress  to  the 
laity.  They  continually  hang  as  so  many  swords,  over  our 
heads.  The  lenity  of  the  magistrates,  with  the  humanity  of 
our  Protestant  neighbours,  are  the  only  clouds  that  intercept 
the  scorching  influence  of  those  blazing  comets,  kindled  in 
times  of  turbulence   and  confusion.     Were  it  a  principle  ot 


98  MISCELLANEOUS     TRACTS. 

our  religion  to  pay  no  regard  to  the  dictates  of  conscience— - 
were  our  pastors  and  clergy  such  as  they  are  described, 
'  people  who  dispense  with  every  law  of  God  and  man,  who 

*  sanctify  rebellion  and  murder,  and  even  change  the  very 
8  nature  and  essential  differences  of  vice  and  virtue  ;'*  were 
we  people  of  this  kind,  the  penal  restraints  would  be  soon 
removed.  One  verbal  recantation  of  Popery,  backed  with 
a  false  oath,  would  dissolve  our  chains.  In  three  weeks  you 
would  see  all  the  Catholics  at  Church,  and  their  clergy  along 
with  them.  Licensed  guilt  would  soon  kick  in  wantonness, 
where  starving  innocence  shivers  without  a  covering.  A  re- 
medy neglected  from  motives  of  conscience,  is  a  proof  of  the 
patient's  integrity.  Our  sufferings  and  perseverance  plead 
aloud  in  favour  of  our  abhorrence  and  detestation  of  perjury : 
and  though  our  Protestant  neighbours  may  laugh  at  the 
seeming  errors  of  our  minds,  yet  they  will  do  justice  to  the 
integrity  of  our  hearts. 

Now,  as  in  the  primitive  ages  of  the  Church,,  it  is  our  prin- 
ciple and  duty  to  pray  for  our  kings,  4  that  God  would    be 

*  pleased  to  grant  them  a  long  life  and  a  quiet  reign ;  that 
4  their  family  may  be  safe,  and  their  forces  valiant ;  their 
4  senate  lawful,  their  people  orderly  and  virtuous  ;  that  they 
■  may  rule  in  peace,  and  have  all  the  blessings  they  can  de-* 

*  sire,  either  as  men  or  princes.'f 

I  have  the  honour  to  remain, 

Sir,  your  most  humble, 

And  obedient  Servant, 

ARTHUR  O'LEARY. 


*  Leland,  b.  5.  ch.  3.         f  Tertull.  Apolog. 


AN 

ADDRESS 

TO 


OF   THE 

ROMAN  CATHOLIC  RELIGION, 

CONCERNING    THE    APPREHENDED    FRENCH    INVASION. 

Brethren,  Countrymen,  and  Fellow  Citizens, 

Religion  has  always  considered  war  as  one  of  the 
scourges  of  Heaven,  and  the  source  of  numberless  scourges 
and  crimes.  Men  may  arm  their  hands  in  defence  of  life  and 
property  ;  but  their  hearts  shudder  at  the  thoughts  of  a  field 
of  battle,  which  can  scarce  afford  graves  to  the  armies  that 
dispute  it,  covered  with  the  mangled  bodies  and  scattered 
limbs  of  thousands  of  Christians,  who  never  saw  nor  pro- 
voked each  other  before  ;  and  whose  only  fault  was  obedience 
to  their  princes  !  which  obedience  cannot  be  imputed  to  the 
soldier  as  a  crime.  The  peaceful  cottage  deserted  at  the 
sight  of  an  approaching  enemy  !  Famine  and  distress  closing 
the  scene,  and  filling  up  the  measure  of  calamities !  Such 
are  the  misfortunes  inseparable  from  war — misfortunes  which 
induced  the  great  St.  Paul  to  exhort  the  Christians  in  the 
following  manner:    'I  exhort,    therefore,  that,  first  of  all, 

*  supplications,  prayers,  intercessions  be  made  for  all  men, 

*  for  kings,  and  all  that  are  in  authority  :  that  we  may  lead  a 
1  quiet  and  peaceable  life,  in  all  godliness  and  honesty,'* 
And  such  should  be  the  constant  prayer  of  a  Christian. 

But  what,  my  brethren,  if  the  enemy's  sword  glittered  in 
our  streets,  and  that  to  the  licentiousness  of  a  foreign  foe 
we  added  domestic  dissensions  !    If  the  sound  of  the  enemy's 

*  1  Tiuiotliy,  Chap  II. 


100  MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS. 

trumpet  would  be  drowned  in  the  cries  and  shrieks  of  the 
injured  neighbour,  whom  we  ourselves  would  be  the  first  to 
oppress  !  Would  not  war  itself  lose  its  terrors,  when  com- 
pared to  such  outrages?  And  the  calamities  we  would 
bring:  on  ourselves,  would  not  they  surpass  those  which 
would  pour  in  upon  us  from  foreign  nations  ?  Such, 
nevertheless,  are  the  fears  that  haunt  us.  Both  Pro- 
testants and  Catholics  declare,  that  in  case  of  an  inva- 
sion, the  common  people  are  the  greatest  cause  of  their 
alarms ;  not  from  dread  of  your  superior  power  ;  but  from 
the  sad  necessity  they  would  be  under,  of  punishing  these 
whom  they  are  willing  to  protect,  and  the  general  con- 
fusion that  would  disturb  the  peace  and  tranquillity  of  the 
rich,  and  draw  down  inevitable  destruction  on  the  poor. 
For  in  such  an  unfortunate  juncture,  every  Catholic  pos- 
sessed of  a  feather  bed,  and  commodious  habitation,  would 
join  his  Protestant  neighbour  in  their  mutual  defence.  The 
aggregate  body  of  diem  would  not  be  a  match  for  regular 
forces,  yet  they  would  be  an  overmatch  for  you.  They  would 
unite  in  one  common  cause  ;  you  would  be  divided  amongst 
yourselves,  exposed  to  each  other's  encroachments,  and 
overpowered  by  all  parties. 

Such,  my  brethren,  would  be  your  situation,  should  you 
be  unhappy  enough  to  strike  from  the  path  of  a  peaceable 
and  Christian  conduct.  Forbid  it  Heaven,  that  it  should  be 
ever  your  case  !  I  conceive  better  hopes  of  you.  Your  un- 
shaken loyalty  under  the  most  trying  circumstances  ;  the 
calm  and  quietness  that  reigned  in  your  peaceful  huts, 
scattered  up  and  down  the  extensive  counties  of  Cork  and 
Kerry,  where  the  Catholics  are  poor  and  numerous,  whilst 
other  parts  of  the  kingdom  were  infested  with  Uoughers, 
White  Boys,  Hearts  of  Oak  and  Steel,  and  alarmed  at  the 
continual  sight  of  judges,  chains  and  gibbets  ;  the  quiet  and 
peaceable  manner  in  which  you  behaved  on  a  late  occasion, 
when  you  imagined  the  enemy  at  your  doors  ;  all  these  cir- 
cumstances are  pledges  of  your  loyalty  and  good  conduct, 
and  happy  omens  of  your  steady  perseverance  in  the  same 
line. 

Your  bishops  and  clergy  have  enforced  the  doctrine  of 
peace,  subordination,  and  loyalty,  'from  the  sacred  altars, 
where  the  least  lye  would  be  a  sacrilege,  and  crime  of  the 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  101 

first  magnitude.  The  Catholic  gentlemen  have  set  forth  the 
example  to  you.  Both  have  bound  themselves  to  king  and 
government,  by  the  most  sacred  ties.  They  have  souls  to 
be  saved,  and  would  be  sorry  to  lose  them  by  wilful  perjury  : 
they  who  would  be  on  a  level  with  their  Protestant  neigh- 
bours, if  they  took  but  the  qualification  oath  against  the  con- 
viction of  their  consciences. 

But  the  doctrine  and  example  of  the  learned,  prudent,  and 
better  sort  of  your  profession,  should  be  the  only  rule  of  your 
conduct ;  for  in  ail  countries,  the  generality  of  the  common 
people  are  ill  qualified  to  judge  or  determine  for  themselves. 
They  are  easily  governed  by  the  senses ;  hurried  by  their 
passions  ;  and  misled  by  a  wild  and  extravagant  fancy  that 
intrudes  itself  into  the  province  of  Reason. 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  suspect  you  for  any  design  to  avail 
yourselves  of  the  calamities  of  your  nation,  or  to  commit,  in 
time  of  war,  a  robbery  which  you  would  detest  in  time  of 
peace.  Is  the  crime  less  heinous,  because  it  is  committed 
against  a  neighbour,  who  is  doubly  miserable  from  the  ter- 
rors of  a  foreigH  foe,  and  the  outrageous  assaults  of  a 
treacherous  fellow  subject  ? 

When  the  soldiers  asked  St.  John  the  Baptist,  what  they 
should  do  ?     He  desired  them,  '  to  do  violence  to  no  man  ; 

*  not  to  accuse  any  one  falsely  ;  and  to  be  content  with  their 

*  wages.'*  Hence  all  divines  are  agreed,  that  the  empire  of 
justice  is  so  extensive,  that  war  itself  must  acknowledge  its 
authority.  Kings,  in  declaring  war,  make  a  solemn  appeal  to 
the  tribunal  of  heaven,  for  the  justice  of  their  cause.  The 
soldier  cannot,  in  conscience,  plunder  or  oppress  the  mer- 
chant or  husbandman  in  his  enemy's  country  :  he  must 
strictly  abide  by  the  orders  of  his  commander.  If  justice, 
then,  in  certain  circumstances,  must  sheath  the  enemy's  sword, 
how  much  more  forcibly  must  it  not  restrain  the  citizen's 
hand  from  invading  what  he  cannot  enjoy  without  guilt  here, 
and  punishment  hereafter  ?  A  punishment  the  more  to  be 
dreaded,  as  perhaps  diere  would  be  no  time  for  restitution  and 
repentance !  Indispensable  obligations,  to  which  every  rob- 
ber is  liable,  and  without  which  he  has  no  mercy  to  expect* 
But  if  a  robbery  committed  on  a  private  man,  deserve  death 

*  St.  Luke,  Chap.  riii. 


102  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

and  damnation,  what  must  not  be  the  guilt  of  those  who  would 
flock  to  the  enemy's  standard,  to  the  total  overthrow  and  de- 
struction of  an  entire  kingdom  ?  It  would  be  vain  to  plead 
the  hardships  you  suffer;  the  prospect  of  being  reinstated  in 
the  lands  of  which  your  ancestors  have  been  deprived  in 
times  of  general  confusion  ;  a  more  free  and  unlimited  exer- 
cise of  your  religion  ;  in  fine,  the  last  argument  of  a  despe- 
rate man,  '  if  they  come,  1  have  nothing  to  lose.'  Those  rea- 
sons I  have  not  heard  from  yourselves :  I  have  read  them  with 
surprise  in  speeches  and  essays  against  the  repeal  of  the  penal 
laws  ;  and  I  hope  in  God,  that  your  conduct  shall  for  ever 
contradict,  them. 

When  an  enemy  lands  in  a  country,  every  person  has 
something  to  lose.  The  labourer  who  refreshes  his  weary 
limbs  with  balmy  sleep,  and  for  whose  soft  slumbers  the 
gouty  rich  man  would  exchange  his  bed  of  down,  would  lose 
his  rest  from  continual  fears  and  apprehensions.  When  pub- 
lic works  would  be  discontinued,  and  tradesmen  dismissed 
by  their  employers,  carpenters,  masons,  slaters,  Sec.  would 
lose  their  hire.  It  would  not  be  with  a  view  to  feed  an 
hungry  Irishman,  that  a  number  of  French  dragoons  would 
make  excursions  from  their  camp  :  it  would  be  with  a  de- 
sign to  carry  off  his  calf  or  pig,  and  to  kill  himself  if  he  re- 
sisted. Whatever  distinction  the  laws  of  this  unhappy  king- 
dom may  make  between  Protestant  and  Papist,  a  conqueror's 
sword  makes  none.  War  levels  and  confounds  all  religions, 
where  their  professors  are  subjects  of  a  monarch  whose  king- 
dom is  invaded. 

When  the  French  joined  the  Americans,  it  was  not  from 
love  for  the  Presbyterian  religion.  If  they  landed  here,  it 
would  not  be  wTith  a  design  to  promote  the  Catholic  cause. — 
When  Oliver  Cromwell  beheaded  Charles  the  First,  brother- 
in-law  to  the  King  of  France,  and  issued  a  bloody  decree, 
whereby  all  the  English  Catholics  were  commanded  to  quit 
the  kingdom  in  the  space  of  two  months,  the  French,  far 
from  resenting  the  injury  offered  to  the  blood-royal  and  to 
the  Catholic  religion,  sided  Cromwell  against  Spain;  and 
ordered  the  Duchess  of  Saxony  to  promote  and  protect  her 
Protestant  subjects,  whilst  the  English  Catholics  were  smart- 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  103 

ing  under  the  scourge  of  persecution,  and  threatened  with 
total  extermination.* 

Thus  all  religions  are  alike  to  a  political  people,  whose" 
only  aim  is  interest  and  conquest.  Hence,  in  France,  Pro- 
testants of  all  denominations  are  promoted  in  the  army. — 
Protestant  generals  command  her  forces  :  the  order  6f  Mili- 
tary Merit  is  instituted  for  Protestant  officers.  It  is  equal  to 
them  whether  a  soldier  prays  or  curses — whether  he  handles 
a  bead  or  a  prayer-book  ;  provided  he  can  manage  a  sword 
and  gun.  And  if  thirty  thousand  men,  under  the  denomi- 
nation of  French  troops,  landed  in  Ireland,  fifteen  thousand 
Protestants,  from  France,  Germany,  Switzerland,  Sec.  would 
make  up  half  the  number. 

Neither  are  you  to  confide  in  their  promises  of  protection. 
The  history  of  their  own  nation  informs  us,  that  a  French 
king  banished  his  mother  at  the  request  of  the  English.  The 
most  part  of  yourselves  can  remember,  that  in  the  war  of 
seventeen  hundred  and  forty-five,  they  prevailed  on  tile  Pre- 
tender to  invade  Scotland.  This  adventurer,  after  suffering 
more  hardships  than  any  romantic  hero  we  read  of,  no  sooner 
returned  from  this  chimerical  expedition  to  Paris,  than,  at 
the  solicitation  of  the  English  ambassador,  he  was  forced  to 
leave  the  kingdom  of  France.  He  died,  about  two  months 
since,  without  issue;  and,  by  his  death  has  rid  the  kingdom 
of  all  fears  arising  from  the  pretensions  of  a  family  that 
commenced  our  destruction,  and  completed  our  ruin. — 
Of  this  I  think  fit  to  inform  you,  as,  in  all  likelihood,  if  the 
French  landed  here,  some  might  give  out  that  he  might  be 
in  their  camp,  in  order  to  deceive  you  by  an  imposture  that 
would  end  in  your  destruction.  For  all  those  who  would 
join  the  French,  would  be  strung  up  after  the  war,  and  give 
occasion  of  charging  the  whole  body  of  the  Roman  Catholics 
with  the  treachery  of  some  of  its  rotten  members.  Or  what 
protection  could  you  expect  from  people  who  would  sacrifice 
the  ties  of  kindred  and  friendship  for  the  good  of  their 
state  ? 

Expect  then  nothing  from  the  French  on  the  score  of  reli-^ 
£ion,  but  remain  peaceably  in  your  cottages.     Mind  your 

*  Leti's  Life  of  Cromwal!. 
P 


104  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

business  as  usual,  and  be  free  from  all  groundless  apprehen- 
sions. Work  for  those  who  employ  you  ;  for  it  is  against 
the  laws. of  war  to  molest  or  hurt  any,  but  such  as  oppose 
the  enemy,  sword  in  hand  :  and  the  world  must  allow  that 
the  French  are  not  strangers  to  the  laws  of  war,  or  the  rules 
of  military  discipline.  The  soldier  himself,  in  the  rage  of 
slaughter,  feels  the  impulse  of  humanity.  He  is  bound  to 
spare  the  supplicant  who  cries  out  for  quarter,  and  to  protect 
the  town  or  pity  that  surrenders  for  want  of  power  to  resist. 
Secure  your  lives,  which  run  the  risk  of  being-  lost  by  the 
sword  in  fighting  for  the  foe,  or  by  the  rope  if  you  chanced 
to  escape  the  danger  of  the  fieid  :  but  above  all,  save  your 
s  )\rs,  wuich  would  be  lost  with  >ut  resource  :  for  among  the 
crimes  that  exclude  from  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  St.  Paul 
reckons  sedition  :  and  what  greater  sedition  thar*  to  rise  up 
against  your  king  and  country,  and  to  defile  your  hands  with 
the  blood  of  your  fellow-subjects,? 

Should  the  king  and  parliament  adopt  the  policy  of  France, 
that  rewards  the  soldier's,  value,  and  leaves  his  religion  to 
God — should  they  enter  on  the  liberal  plan  of  the  Protestant 
Powers  of  the  continent,  who  level  the  fences,  and  make  no 
distinction  between  religious  parties — should  the  Catholic 
gentry,  descended  in  a  long  line  from  warlike  chieftains,  and 
animated  with  the  same  courage  and  magnanimity  that 
crowned  with  laurels  their  relations  and  namesakes  on  the 
banks  of  the  Rhine,  the  walls  of  Cremona,  in  the  fields  of 
Germany,  and  the  plains  of  Fontenoy,  where  hands  disqua- 
lified from  using  a  gun  in  defence  of  their  native  country, 
have  conquered  cities  and  provinces  for  foreign  kings — should 
the  Catholic  gentry,  I  say,  be  empowered  by  parliament  to 
join  their  Protestant  neighbours,  and  press  to  the  standard 
of  their  country,  at  the  head  of  a  spirited  and  active  race  of 
men,  preserved  by  labour  from  the  weakness  of  indolence, 
inured  by  habit  to  the  rigours  of  manly  exercise,  and,  like 
the  Spartan  youth,  already  half  disciplined  from  the  very  na- 
ture of  their  sports  and  diversions — then  join  the  banners  of 
your  country  ;  fight  in  support  of  the  common  cause.  If 
you  die,  you  die  with  honour  and  a  pure  conscience:  the 
death  of  a  plunderer  and  rebel  is  infamy  and  reprobation. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  105 

I  repeat  it ;  you  have  nothing  to  expect  from  the  French. 
Ireland  they  will  never  keep  ;  or  if  they  keep  it,  is  it  a  rea- 
son that  you  should  forfeit  soul  and  conscience  by  plunder, 
treachery,  and  rebellion  ?  St.  Paul  lays  it  down  for  a  rule, 
that  'the  damnation  of  those  is  just,  who  do  evil  thai  gcod 
'may  come.'*  What  must  not  be  die  damnation  of  those 
who  do  evil  for  the  sake  of  mischief?  And  Christ  declares, 
that  *  it  availeth  a  man  nothing,  if  he  gain  the  whole  world 
*and  lose  his  souL' 

But  by  the  coming  of  the  French,  your  gain  would  Fall 
short  of  your  expectations,   if  any  amongst  you  would  be 

mad  enough  to  entertain  any  expectations   of  the    kind 

When  the  French  take  a  Roman  Catholic  Captain,  do  they 
ever  return  him  back  to  his  ship  or  restore  him  his  liberty, 
in  compliment  to  his  religion  ?  Are  we  to  expect  more  from 
them  by  land,  than  by  sea  ?  If  then  in  compliment  to  the 
Catholic  religion,  they  would  not  return  a  fishing  bout  to 
our  distressed  families,  who  would  imagine  they  would 
give  us  all  the  estates  in  the  kingdom  ?  Or  is  it  be- 
cause these  estates  belonged  in  remote  times  to  our  an- 
cestors, that  we  couid  in  conscience  dispossess  the  present 
owners,  were  it  even  in  our  power?  The  remains  of 
old  castles,  formerly  the  seats  of  hospitality  ;  and  the  ter- 
ritories which  still  bear  our  names;  may  remind  us  of 
our  origin,  and  inspire  us  with  spirited  sentiments,  to  which 
the  lower  class  of  people  in  other  countries  are  entire 
strangers,  and  which  a  wise  government  could  improve  to 
the  advantage  of  the  state.  Yet  these  memorials  of  ancient 
grandeur  and  family  importance,  entitle  us  to  no  other 
pretensions  than  that  of  scorning  to  do  any  thing  base, 
vile,  or  treacherous. 

We  must  imitate  that  descendant  of  the  Sidonian  kings, 
who,  from  extreme  poverty,  worked  in  a  garden :  being 
asked  by  Alexander  the  Great,  '  How  he  supported  po- 
'verty?'  'Better,'  replied  he,  'than  I  could  support  gran.. 
'deur.  My  hands  supply  my  wants:  and  I  want  nothing, 
1  when  I  desire  nothing.'  Pity,  my  brethren,  that  this  man 
was  not  a  Christian  !  Or  pity,  that  the  Christians  do  not 
resemble  this  Heathen  !    The  most  flourishing  empires  have 

*   Romans,  chap,  iii- 


108  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

fallen  with  time  :  the  world  is  in  a  continual  change  :  and 
tin  Reman  Catholics  must  share  the  same  fate  with  the  rest 
oi  mankind. 

There  is>  no  reviving  old  claims  in  this  or  any  other  coun- 
t'rj .  Or  perhaps,  if  we  revived  them,  they  could  not 
stand  the  test  of  severe  justice.  Our  ancestors  have 
they  ever  encroached  on  their  neighbours?  On  their  first 
h  ding  in  this  kingdom,  have  not  they  taken  these  estates 
from  the  Carthaginians,  Firblogs,  and  others  who  were 
settled  here  before  them?  If  then  the  Protestants,  who 
are  now  in  possession,  gave  them  up,  to  whom  would 
they  gn  e  them  ?  If  they  have  no  right  to  them,  because 
they  belonged  to  our  ancestors — our  ancestors  had  no 
right  tc  them,  because  they  belonged  to  others.  If  a 
French  general  sounded  a  trumpet,  and  desired  us  to 
take  our  lands,  would  there  not  be  a  thousand  pretenders 
to  very  estate?  Would  not  every  one  be  eager  for  the 
best  spot  ?  And  would  not  this  spot  fall  to  the  share  of  the 
strongest,  who  would  kill  or  overpower  the  weakest?  I  am 
ashamed,  my  brethren,  at  your  reading  such  trifles  in  this 
paper*  I  should  never  have  mentioned  them,  had  not  I  read 
such  a  nonsensical  charge  in  the  writings  of  some  paltry 
scribblers,  who,  in  order  to  keep  our  Protestant  neighbours 
in  perpetual  dread  of  inoffensive  fellow- subjects,  do  not  blush 
at-  an  insult  olftred  to  common  sense,  and  to  the  rights  of 
mankind, 

••  04  where  property  is  once  settled,  secured  by  the  laws  of 
any  realm,  and  confirmed  by  a  long  possession,  there  is  no 
disturbing  the  proprietor.  It  is  the  general  consent  of  nations, 
and  the  universal  voice  of  mankind.  By  the  Roman  laws, 
thirft  years  possession  secures  the  possessor  in  the  enjoyment 
of  his  property.  Even  in  Scripture  we  read,  that,  when  a 
king  of  the  Ammonites  bad  challenged  some  lands  which  the 
Israelites  had  t  Len  from  his  ancestors,  Jephtah,  the  ruler  of 
God's  people,  amongst  other  reasons,  pleads  a  long  pos- 
session :  *  While  Israel  dwelt  in  Heshbon,  why  therefore  did 
'ye  not  recover  tnem  within  that  time?'*  Thus  from  the 
first  establishment  of  civil  society,  a  long  possession  annihilates 
ail  claims.  And  by  the  same  principles,  every  Protestant  gen- 
tleman in  Ireland  has  as  good  a  right  to  his  estate,   as  any 

*  Judges,  cliap.  ij. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  107 

Milesian  had  before  him.  For  this  I  appeal  to  your  con- 
sciences :  as  you  are  to  appear  before  God,  if  you  cut  corn 
in  the  field  of  a  Protestant,  or  stole  his  hay,  would  not  your 
confessor  compel  you  to  restitution  ?  What  right  then  should 
you  have  to  the  land  where  you  would  scruple  to  take  the 
growth  of  it  ?  Far  then  from  giving  you  estates,  the  French 
could  not,  by  the  laws  of  war  and  the  principles  of  conquest, 
universally  agreed  on  by  civilized  nations,  take  a  foot  of 
ground  from  any  person  in  the  kingdom,  for  their  own  use  ; 
much  less  for  yours.  If  the  nation  should  be  unable  to  make 
head  against  them,  and  that  the  chief  men  of  the  kingdom, 
and  the  representatives  of  the  people,  should  prefer  preser- 
vation to  death,  (as  doubtless  they  will,  if  they  have  not 
superior  forces  to  oppose  them) — they  neither  will  nor  can 
require  any  more  than  the  allegiance  of  the  inhabitants,  the 
same  rates,  taxes,  and  government  support,  that  were 
granted  to  the  king  of  England.  The  natives  will  be 
secured  in  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion,  the  full  enjoy- 
ment of  their  property,  their  laws  and  privileges.  This  is 
always  done  :  the  reverse  would  be  an  open  violation  of  the 
laws  of  nations,  which  are  binding  on  the  very  conquerors; 
and  which,  according  to  the  present  system,  they  strictly 
observe. 

Thus,  the  common  people  are  never  interested  in  the 
change  of  government.  They  may  change  their  masters  : 
but  they  will  not  change  their  burden.  The  rich  will  Jbe 
still  rich.  The  poor  will  be  poor.  In  France,  they  have 
poor  of  all  trades  and  professions  :  it  will  be  the  same  here. 
But  you  will  tell  me,  '  that  at  least  you  will  have  the  free 
exercise  of  your  religion.'  Pray,  my  brethren,  do  not  your 
Protestant  neighbours  grant  you  the  free  exercise  of  your 
religion  ?  Would  they  not  esteem  you  more,  in  proportion 
as  you  would  live  up  to  its  maxims  ?  Even  the  worthy, 
learned,  and  charitable  Dr.  Mann,  the  Protestant  Bishop, 
at  the  head  of  an  assembly  of  his  clergy,  recommended 
benevolence  and  moderation  towards  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics. The  same  doctrine  has  been  preached  not  long  ago 
from  the  Protestant  pulpit.  Thus,  it  is  the  glory  of  our 
days,  to  see  the  unhappy  spirit  of  persecution  dying  away, 
and  christian  charity  succeeding  the  intemperate   zeal  and 


103  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

unchristian  superstition  which,  for  many  years,  had  dis- 
graced religion,  and  dishonoured  humanity. 

Bells,  steeples,  and  churches  richly  ornamented,  contri- 
tribute  to  the  outward  pomp  and  solemnity  of  worship  :  but 
an  upright > heart  and  pure  conscience  are  the  temples  in 
which  the  Divinity  delights.  We  would  fain  worship  God 
our  own  way.  Doubtless.  But  are  we  to  worship  him 
against  his  will  ?  In  lighting  up  the  sacred  fire,  are  we  to 
burn  the  house  of  God  ?  Saul,  king  of  Israel,  intended  to 
worship  God,  in  offering  up  a  sacrifice.  The  Lord  rejected 
him,  because  he  offered  it  up  against  the  law.  His  intention 
was  good ;  but  the  action  criminal.  Thus,  the  Lord  would 
reject  you,  if,  under  pretence  of  a  more  free  worship, 
you  flocked  to  the  standard  of  an  enemy ;  rose  up  in  rebel- 
lion against  lawful  authority;  plundered  your  neighbour; 
and  imbrued  your  hands  in  the  blood  of  your  fellow- 
subjects. 

Let  none  then  say,  '  We  will  have  a  Catholic  King.' — 
Subjects  are  little  concerned  in  the  religion  of  governors. 
Thousands  of  Catholics  lose  their  souls  in  France  and  Italy, 
after  leading  a  loose  and  dissolute  life  :  thousands  of  them 
work  their  salvation  in  the  Protestant  States  of  Holland 
and  Germany.  It  is  then  equal  to  man,  what  religion  his 
neighbour  or  king  be  of,  provided  his  own  conscience  be 
pure,  and  his  life  upright. 

The  Prussian,  Dutch,  and  Hanoverian  Catholics  live  un- 
der Protestant  governments,  and  join  their  sovereigns 
against  Catholic  Powers.  Their  religion  is  the  same  with 
yours.  And  this  religion  enforces  obedience  to  the  king  and 
magistrates  under  whom  we  live.  Christ  commanded  tribute 
to  be  paid  to  an  heathen  prince,  and  acknowledged  the  tem- 
poral power  of  an  heathen  magistrate,  who  pronounced  sen- 
tence of  death  against  him. 

Nero,  sovereign  of  the  world,  rips  open  his  mother's 
womb,  and  begins  the  first  bloody  persecution  against  the 
Christians ;  seventeen  thousand  of  whom  were  slaughtered 
in  one  month;  and  their  bodies,  daubed  over  with  pitch  and 
tar,  hung  up  to  give  light  to  the  city.  St.  Paul,  dreading 
that  such  horrid  usage  would  force  them  to  overturn  the 
state,  and  join  the  enemies  of  the  empire,  writes  to  them  in 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  109 

the  following  manner:  'Let  every  man  be  subject  to  the 
6  higher  powers;  and  they  that  resist  receive  unto  themselves 
4  damnation.'*  A  strong  conviction  then  that,  in  obeying 
our  rulers,  we  obey  God,  (who  leaves  no  virtue  unrewarded, 
as  he  leaves  no  vice  unpunished)  sweetens  the  thoughts  of 
subjection;  and  under  the  hardest  master,  obedience  is  no 
longer  a  hardship  to  the  true  Christian. 

So  great  was  the  impression  made  by  this  doctrine  on 
the  minds  of  the  primitive  Christians — so  great  was  their 
love  for  public  order,  that,  although  they  filled  the  whole 
empire  and  all  the  armies,  they  never  once  flew  out  into  any 
disorder.  Under  all  the  cruelties  that  the  rage  of  perse- 
cutors could  invent ;  amidst  so  many  seditions  and  civil 
wars;  amidst  so  many  conspiracies  against  the  persons  of 
emperors,  not  a  seditious  Christian  could  be  found. 

We  have  the  same  motives  to  animate  our  conduct;  the 
same  incentive  to  piety,  godliness,  and  honesty :  the  same 
expectations  that  raise  us  above  all  earthly  things,  and  put 
us  beyond  the  reach  of  mortality.  '  For,  here  on  earth,' 
says  St.  Paul,  '  we  have  not  a  lasting  city,  but  expect  a 
4  better.' — Let  not  public  calamities,  bloody  wars,  the 
scourges  of  heaven,  and  the  judgments  of  God,  be  incentives 
to  vice,  plunder,  rebellion,  and  murder;  but  rather  the  oc- 
casions of  the  reformation  of  our  morals,  and  spurs  to  re- 
pentance. Let  religion,  which  by  patience  has  triumphed 
over  the  Cassars,  and  displayed  the  cross  in  the  banners  of 
kings,  without  sowing  disorders  in  their  realms,  support 
itself  without  the  accursed  aid  of  insurrection  and  crimes. 
Far  from  expecting  to  enrich  ourselves  at  the  expence  of 
justice,  and  under  the  fatal  shelter  of  clouds  of  confusion 
and  troubles,  let  us  seriously  reflect,  that  death  will  soon 
level  the  poor  and  rich  in  the  dust  of  the  grave:  that  we 
are  all  to  appear  naked  before  the  awful  tribunal  of  Jesus 
Christ,  to  account  for  our  actions;  and  that  it  is  by  millions 
of  times  more  preferable  to  partake  of  the  happiness  of 
Lazarus,  who  was  conveyed  to  Abraham's  bosom,  after  a 
life  of  holiness  and  poverty,  than  to  be  rich  and  wicked, 
and  to  share  the  fate  of  that  happy  man  who,  dressed  in 
purple,  and  after  a  life  of  ease  and  opulence,  was  refused  a 

*  Rom,  Cbap.  xiii. 


HO  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

drop  of  water  to  allay  his  burning  thirst.  In  expectation 
that  you  will  comply  with  the  instructions  of  your  bishop 
and  clergy,  not  only  from  dread  of  the  laws,  but  moreover 
from  the  love  and  fear  of  God. 


I  remain,  my  dear  brethren, 

Your  affectionate  servant, 

ARTHUR  O'LEARY. 


Cork,  August  14, 1779. 


THE 

REV.  JOHN  WESLEY'S  LETTER, 

Containing  the  civil  principles  of  Roman   Catholics ;  also,  a  De- 
fence  of  the  Protestant  Association. 

to  the  printer. 
Sir, 

Some  time  ago,  a  pamphlet  was  sent  me,  entitled,  'An 
s  Appeal  from  the  Protestant  Association  to  the   people   of 

*  Great  Britain.'  A  day  or  two  since,  a  kind  of  answer  to 
this  was  put  into  my  hand,  which  pronounces,  '  its  style  con- 
1  temptible,  its  reasoning  futile,  and  its  object  malicious.' — 
On  the  contrary,  I  think  the  style  of  it  is  clear,  easy,  and 
natural ;  the  reasoning,  in  general,  strong  and  conclusive ; 
the  object,  or  design,  kind  and  benevolent :  and,  in  pursu- 
ance of  the  same  kind  and  benevolent  design,  I  shall  endea- 
vour to  confirm  the  substance  of  that  tract,  by  a  few  plain 
arguments. 

With  persecution  I  have  nothing  to  do.     I  persecute  no 
man  for  his  religious  principles.     Let  there  be  *  as  boundless 

*  a  freedom  in  religion,'  as  any  man  can  conceive  :  but  this 
does  not  touch  the  point.  I  will  set  religion,  true  or  false, 
utterly  out  of  the  question  :  suppose  the  Bible  if  you  please, 
to  be  a  fable,  and  the  Koran  to  be  the  word  of  God.  I  con- 
sider not,  whether  the  Romish  religion  be  true  or  false,  I 
build  nothing  on  one  or  the  other  supposition :  therefore 
away  with  all  your  common-place  declarations  about  intole- 
rance and  persecution  for  religion  !  Suppose  every  word  of 
Pope  Pius's  creed  to  be  true — suppose  the  Council  of  Trent 
to  have  been  infallible — yet,  I  insist  upon  it,  that  no  govern- 
ment, not  Roman  Catholic,  ought  to  tolerate  men  of  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  persuasion. 

I  prove  this  by  a  plain  argument :  let  him  answer  it  that 
can : — 


112  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS 

That  no  Roman  Catholic  does  or  can  give  security  for  his 
allegiance  or  peaceable  behaviour,  I  prove  thus  :  it  is  a  Ro- 
man Catholic  maxim,  established,  not  by  private  men,  but 
by  a  public  Council,  that,  *  no  faith  is  to  be  kept  with  here- 
'  tics.'     This  has  been  openly  avowed  by  the  Council  of  Con- 
stance, but  it  never  was  openly  disclaimed.     Whether  pri- 
vate persons  avow  or  disavow  it,  it  is  a  fixed  maxim  of  the 
church  of  Rome  :  but  as  long  as  it  is  so,  nothing  can  be  more 
plain,  than  that  the  members  of  that  church  can  give  no  rea- 
sonable security  to  any  government   of  their  allegiance  or 
peaceable  behaviour;  therefore,  they  ought  not  to  be  tolera- 
ted by  any  government,  Protestant,  Mahometan,  or  Pagan. 
You  may  say,  '  nay,  but  you  will  take  an  oath  of  aliegi- 
cance.'     True,  five  hundred  oaths;    but  the  maxim,  'no 
'  faith  is  to  be  kept  with  heretics,'  sweeps  them  ail  away,  as 
a  spider's  web ;  so  that  still,  no  governors,  that  are  not  Ro- 
man Catholics,  can  have  any  security  of  their  allegiance. 

Again,  those  who  acknowledge  the  spiritual  power  of  the 
Pope,  can  give  no  security  of  their  allegiance  to  any  govern- 
ment ;  but  all  Roman  Catholics  acknowledge  this ;  therefore 
they  can  give  no  security  for  their  allegiance. 

The  power  of  granting  pardons  for  all  sins  past,  present, 
and  to  come,  is,  and  has  been,  for  many  centuries,  one  branch 
of  his  spiritual  power:  but  those  who  acknowledge  him  to 
have  this  spiritual  power,  can  give  no  security  for  their  alle- 
giance ;  since  they  believe  the  Pope  can  pardon  rebellions, 
high  treasons,  and  all  other  sins  whatsoever. 

'i  he  power  of  dispensing  with  any  promise,  oath,  or  vow, 
is  another  branch  of  the  spiritual  power  of  the  Pope  ;  and  all 
who  acknowledge  his  spiritual  power,  must  acknowledge 
this ;  but  whoever  acknowledges  the  dispensing  power  of  the 
Pope,  can  give  no  security  of  his  allegiance  to  any  govern- 
ment. 

Oaths  and  promises  are  none  :  they  are  light  as  air ;  a  dis- 
pensation makes  them  all  null  and  void. 

Nay,  not  only  the  Pope,  but  even  a  priest,  has  power  to 
pardon  sins !  this  is  an  essential  doctrine  of  the  church  of 
Rome.  But  they  that  acknowledge  this,  cannot  possibly 
give  any  security  for  their  allegiance  to  any  government. 
Oaths  are  no  security  at  all ;  for  the  priest  can  pardon  both 
perjury  and  high  treason. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  113 

Setting,  then,  religion  aside,  it  is  plain,  that  upon  princi- 
ples of  reason,  no  government  ought  to  tolerate  men,  who 
cannot  give  any  security  to  that  government  for  their  alle- 
giance and  peaceable  behaviour ;  but  this  no  Romanist  can 
do,  not  only  while  he  holds,  that  '  no  faith  is  to  be  kept  with 
'  heretics,'  but  so  long  as  he  acknowledges  either  priestly 
absolution,  or  the  spiritual  power  of  the  Pope. 

'But  the  late  act,'  you  say,  'does  not  either  tolerate  or 
'  encourage  Roman  Catholics.'  I  appeal  to  matter  of  fact. 
Do  not  the  Romanists  themselves  understand  it  as  a  tolera- 
tion ?  You  know  they  do.  And  does  it  not  already,  let 
alone  what  it  may  do  by-and-by,  encourage  them  to  preach 
openly,  to  build  chapels,  at  Bath  and  elsewhere,  to  raise  se- 
minaries, and  to  make  numerous  converts,  day  by  day,  to 
their  intolerant,  persecuting  principles  ?  1  can  point  out 
if  need  be,  several  of  the  persons :  and  they  are  increasing 
daily. 

But  *  nothing  dangerous  to  English  liberty  is  to  be  ap- 
'  prehended  from  them.'  I  am  not  certain  of  that.  Some 
time  since  a  Romish  priest  came  to  one  1  knew,  and  after 
talking  with  her  largely,  broke  out,  'You  are  no  heretic! 
'You  have  the  experience  of  a  real  Christian!'  'And 
1  would  you,5  she  asked,  '  burn  me  alive  V  He  said,  '  God 
'  forbid  !  Unless  it  were  for  the  good  of  the  church.' 

Now,  what  security  could  she  have  for  her  life,  if  it  had 
depended  on  that  man  ?  The  good  of  the  church  would  have 
burst  all  the  ties  of  truth,  justice  and  mercy ;  especially,  when 
seconded  by  the  absolution  of  a  priest,  or,  if  need  were,  a 
papal  pardon. 

If  any  one  please  to  answer  this,  and  to  set  his  name,  I 
shall,  probably  reply  :  but  the  productions  of  anonymous 
writers  I  do  not  promise  to  take  any  notice  of. 

I  am,  Sir, 

Your  humble  Servant, 

JOHN  WESLEY. 

City  Road, 
Jan.  12,  1780. 


A    DEFENCE    OF    THE 

PROTESTANT  ASSOCIATION, 

BY  JOHN  WESLEY. 


Various  pieces,  under  different  signatures,  having  ap- 
peared in  the  public  prints,  casting  unjust  reflections  on  the 
Protestant  Association,  and  tending  to  quiet  the  minds  of 
the  Protestants  at  the  present  alarming  crisis,  by  insinuating 
that  there  is  no  danger  arising  from  the  toleration  of  Popery, 
and  that  such  associations  are  necessary  ;  1  think  it  a  piece  of 
justice,  which  I  owe  to  my  countrymen,  to  give  them  a  plain 
and  true  account  of  the  views  of  this  assembly,  and  lay  before 
them  the  reasons  which  induced  them  to  form  this  asso- 
ciation, and  determined  them  to  continue. 

Whether  the  gentlemen  who  have  favoured  the  public  with 
their  remarks  on  this  occasion,  are  really  Protestants,  or  Pro- 
testant Dissenters,  as  they  style  themselves ;  or  whether  they 
are  Papists  in  disguise,  who  assume  the  name  of  Protestants, 
that  they  may  be  able  to  undermine  the  Protestant  cause  with 
the  greater  success,  is  neither  easy  nor  necessary  to  deter- 
mine ;  but  it  is  easy  to  see  that  they  are  either  totally  igno- 
rant of  the  subject  on  which  they  write,  or  else  they  wilfully 
disguise  it. 

The  pieces  I  refer  to,  are  written  with  different  degrees  of 
temper.  One  gentleman  in  particular,  appears  to  be  very 
angry,  and  loads  the  association,  and  their  friends,  with  the 
most  illiberal  and  unmanly  abuse.  If  this  gentleman  had 
clearly  stated  the  cause  of  his  resentment,  he  might  have 
been  answered ;  but  as  he  appears  to  be  angry  at  he  knows 
not  what,  he  can  only  be  pitied.  Others  have  written  with 
more  candour  and  moderation,  and  would  have  been  worthy 
of  regard,  had  they  not  been  deficient  in  point  of  argument. 
If  these  are  sincerely  desirous  of  being  informed,  they  are 
requested  to  attend  to  the  following  particulars : 

However  unconcerned  the  present  generation  may  be,  and 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  115 

unapprehensive  of  danger  from  the  great  growth  of  Popery, 
how  calmly  soever  they  may  behold  the  erection  of  Popish 
chapels,  hear  of  Popish  schools  being  opened,  and  see 
Popish  books  publicly  advertised,  they  are  to  be  informed 
that  our  ancestors,  whose  wisdom  and  firmness  have  trans- 
mitted to  us  those  religious  and  civil  liberties,  which  we  now 
enjoy,  had  very  different  conceptions  of  this  matter ;  and 
had  they  acted  with  that  coldness,  indifference,  and  stupi- 
dity, which  seems  to  have  seized  the  present  age,  we  had 
now  been  sunk  into  the  most  abject  state  of  misery  and  sla- 
very, under  an  arbitrary  prince  and  Popish  government. 

It  was  the  opinion  of  our  brave,  wise,  circumspect,  and 
cautious  ancestors,  that  an  open  toleration  of  the  Popish  re- 
ligion, is  inconsistent  with  the  safety  of  a  free  people,  and  a 
Protestant  government.  It  was  thought  by  them,  that  every 
convert  to  Popery,  was  by  principle  an  enemy  to  the  consti- 
tution of  this  country;  and  as  it  was  supposed  that  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion  promoted  rebellion  against  the  state,  there 
was  a  very  severe  law  made  to  prevent  the  propagation  of  it. 
Such  was  the  state  of  things  in  the  reign  of  the  great  Eliza- 
beth :  and  Popery  having,  notwithstanding  such  restriction, 
gained  ground  in  the  reign  of  James  II.  though  the  encou- 
ragement it  then  received  from  the  state,  was  not  equal  to 
what  it  has  now  obtained,  the  nation  was  alarmed  ;  and  the 
noble  and  resolute  stand  which  the  Protestants  then  made 
against  the  advances  of  Popery,  produced  the  Revolution. 

In  the  reign  of  William  the  Third,  the  state  was  thought 
to  be  in  danger  from  the  encroachments  of  Rome  ;  to  pre- 
vent which,  the  act  of  Parliament  was  made,  which  is  now, 
in  the  most  material  parts,  repealed,  and  several  Protestants 
being  of  opinion,  that  this  repeal  will,  in  its  consequences, 
act  as  an  open  toleration  of  the  Popish  religion,  they  are 
filled  with  the  most  painful  apprehensions :  they  think,  that 
liberty,  which  they  value  more  than  their  lives,  and  which 
they  would  piously  transmit  to  their  children,  to  be  in  dan- 
ger:  they  are  full  of  the  most  alarming  fears,  that  chains  are 
forging  at  the  anvil  of  Rome  for  the  rising  generation  :  thev 
fear,  that  the  Papists  are  undermining  our  happy  constitu- 
tion ;  they  see  the  purple  power  of  Rome  advancing,  by 
hasty  strides,  to  overspread  this  once  happy  nation  :  they 
shudder  at  the  thought  of  darkness  and  ignorance,  misery 


116  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

and  slavery,  spreading  their  sable  wings  over  this  highly 
favoured  isle :  their  souls  are  pained  for  their  rights  and 
liberties  as  men,  and  their  hearts  tremble  for  the  ark  of 
God. 

Inspired  with  such  sentiments,  and  under  the  influence  of 
such  reasonable  and  well-grounded  fears,  they  think  it  a 
duty  which  they  owe  to  themselves,  their  posterity,  their 
religion,  and  their  God,  to  unite  as  one  man,  and  take  every 
possible,  loyal  and  constitutional  measure,  to  stop  the  pro- 
gress of  that  soul-deceiving  and  all-enslaving  superstition 
which  threatens  to  overspread  this  land.  It  is  to  be  hoped, 
that  an  attempt,  so  just  and  reasonable,  will  be  crowned 
with  success;  but  should  it  fail  through  the  supineness  or 
groundless  prejudices  of  those  who  ought  to  stand  first  in 
this  cause,  the  members  of  this  Association  will  enjoy  the 
satisfaction  of  a  self-approving  mind,  conscious  of  having 
done  its  duty;  while  those  who  meanly  desert  the  Protes- 
tant cause,  and  tamely  suffer  the  encroachments  of  Rome, 
may  see  their  error  when  it  is  too  late,  and  be  filled  with 
bitterness  and  remorse  at  a  conducts©  mean  and  despicable, 
and  so  unworthy  their  profession. 

Whatever  such  persons  may  think  of  themselves  and  their 
conduct,  and  however  they  may  dress  themselves  up  in  the 
splendid  robes  of  candour  and  moderation,  they  are  to  be 
informed  that  their  conduct  is  highly  criminal,  and  may  be 
attended  with  the  most  deplorable  consequences;  as,  by  their 
neglecting  to  appear  on  this  great  occasion,  they  give  our 
rulers  reason  to  conclude,  that  it  is  the  sense  of  the  nation 
that  Popery  should  be  tolerated. 

It  is  sincerely  to  be  lamented  that  Protestants  in  general 
are  not  more  apprehensive  of  the  danger.  Have  they  forgot 
the  reign  of  the  bloody  queen  Mary  ?  Have  they  forgot 
the  fires  in  Smithfield,  and  can  they  behold  the  place  without 
emotion  where  their  fathers  died?  Will  it  ever  be  believed 
in  future  times,  that  persons  of  eminent  and  distinguished 
rank  among  the  Protestants,  and  persons  of  high  and  exalted 
religious  characters,  refused  to  petition  against  Popery ;  and 
let  it  overspread  our  nation  without  opposition?  Will  it  be 
believed  that  Englishmen  were  so  far  degenerated  from  the 
noble  spirit  of  their  ancestors,  as  tamely  to  bow  the  neck  to 
the  yoke  of  Rome  ?  4  Tell  not  in  Gath,  publish  it  not  in 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  117 

*  the  streets  of  Askelon  ;  lest  the  daughters  of  the  Philistines 
4  rejoice;  lest  the  daughters  of  the  uncircumcised  triumph.' 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  Papists,  either  openly 
or  in  disguise,  take  every  method  to  prevent  the  just  and 
reasonable|view  of  the  Protestant  Association,  and  therefore 
represent  them  as  factious,  seditious,  and  enemies  to  tolera- 
tion. These  charges,  and  every  other  which  the  malice  of 
our  enemies,  or  the  groundless  fears  and  prejudices  of  our 
mistaken  friends  shall  hereafter  exhibit,  will  be  separately 
and  distinctly  considered  in  the  course  of  these  letters ;  and 
such  an  account  given  of  the  views  of  the  Protestant  Asso- 
ciation, and  the  Tine  of  conduct  which  they  have  pursued, 
and  intend  to  pursue,  in  order  to  accomplish  the  great  end 
for  which  they  associate,  as  will,  I  hope,  obviate  every 
objection,  remove  every  scruple,  and  excite  the  Protestants 
to  join  hand  in  hand,  and  unite  as  one  man,  in  that  cause, 
in  which  their  present  and  future  welfare  is  so  nearly 
concerned,  by 

JOHN  WESLEY. 


REM  AUKS  ON  THE  FOREGOING 


LETTER    AND    DEFENCE, 


Addressed  to  the  Conductors  of  the  Free  Press. 

Gentlemen, 

I  know  that  it  is  loss  of  time,  and  a  loss  to  the  public; 
impatient  for  a  paper  in  which  they  have  first  discovered 
the  outlines  of  their  country's  rights,  and  from  whence  they 
daily  expect  new  illustrations,  on  the  most  important  sub- 
jects— to  take  up  The  Freeman's  Journal  with  idle  contro- 
versy. Were  controversy  the  subject,  I  should  be  the  last 
•  to  enter  the  list. 

In  your  paper,  which  has  already  made  its  way  to  the 
Continent,  on  account  of  the  late  exertions  of  the  Irish,  and 
which  should  contain  nothing  unworthy  of  the  nervous  elo- 
quence and  liberal  principles  of  jour  numerous  and  learned 
correspondents,  Mr.  Wesley,  in  a  syllogistical  method,  and 
the  jargon  of  the  schools,  has  arraigned  the  Catholics  all 
over  the  world,  with  their  kings  and  subjects,  their  prelates 
and  doctors,  as  liars,  perjurers,  patentees  of  guilt  and  per- 
jury ;  authorized  by  their  priests  to  violate  the  sacred  rules 
of  order  and  justice,  and  unworthy  of  being  tolerated  even 
by  Turks  and  Pagans*  Such  a  charge  carries  with  it  its 
own  confutation,  but  are  there  not  prejudiced  people  still  in 
the  world  ?  The  nine  skins  of  parchment,  filled  with  the 
names  of  petitioners  against  the  English  Catholics,  owe  the 
variety  of  their  signatures  to  pulpit  declamations  and  inflam- 
matory pamphlets,  teeming  with  Mr.  Wesley's  false  asser- 
tions. And,  to  the  disgrace  of  the  peerage,  in  this  variety 
of  signatures,  is  not  the  lord's  hand-writing  stretched  near 
the  scratch  of  the  cobler's  awl  ?  For  the  parchment  would 
be  profaned,  if  the  man  who  does  not  know  how  to  write, 
made  the  sign  of  the  cross. 

I  am  a  member  of  that   communion  which  Mr.  Wesley 
aspersed  in  so  cruel  a  manner.    I  disclaimed  upon  oath,  in 

*  See  Mr.  Wesley's  letter,  page  112. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  119 

the  presence  of  Judge  Henn,  the  creed  which  Mr.  Wesley- 
attributes  to  me.  I  have  been  the  first  to  unravel  the  intri- 
cacies of  that  very  oath  of  allegiance,  proposed  to  the  Roman 
Catholics ;  as  it  is  worded  in  a  manner  which,  at  first  sight, 
seems  abstruse.  And,  far  from  believing  it  lawful  to  '  violate 
*  faith  with  heretics,'  I  solemnly  swear  without  equivocation, 
or  the  danger  of  perjury,  that  in  a  Catholic  country,  where  I 
was  chaplain  of  war,  I  thought  it  a  crime  to  engage  the  king 
of  England's  soldiers  or  sailors  into  the  service  of  a  Catholic 
monarch,  against  their  Protestant  sovereign.  I  resisted 
the  solicitations,  and  ran  the  risk  of  incurring  the  dis- 
pleasure of  a  minister  of  state,  and  losing  my  pension  : 
and  my  conduct  was  approved  by  all  the  divines  in  a 
monastery  to  which  I  then  belonged ;  who  all  unanimously 
declared,  that,  in  conscience,  I  could  not  have  behaved 
otherwise. 

Mr.  Wesley  may  consider  me  as  a  fictitious  character ; 
but,  should  he  follow  his  precursor,  (I  mean  his  letter, 
wafted  to  us  over  the  British  channel),  and,  on  his  mission 
from  Dublin  to  Bandon,  make  Cork  his  way — Doctor 
Berkely,  parish -minister,  near  Middleton — Captains  Stanner, 
French,  and  others,  who  were  prisoners  of  war,  in  the  same 
place,  and  at  the  same  time — can  fully  satisfy  him  as  to  the 
reality  of  my  existence,  in  the  line  already  described ;  and 
that  in  the  beard  which  I  then  wore,  and  which  like  that  of 
Sir  Thomas  More,  never  committed  any  treason,  I  never 
concealed  either  poison  or  dagger  to  destroy  my  Protestant 
neighbour ;  though  it  was  long  enough  to  set  all  Scotland  in 

ablaze,  and  to  deprive  Lord  G G of  his 

senses. 

Should  any  of  the  Scotch  missionaries  attend  Mr.  Wesley 
into  this  kingdom,  and  bring  with  them  any  of  the  stumps  of 
the  fagots  with  which  Henry  the  Eighth,  his  daughters,  Mary 
and  Elizabeth,  and  the  learned  James  the  First,  ro?.sted  the 
heretics  of  their  times,  in  Smithfield — or  some  of  the  fagots 
with  which  the  Scotch  Saints,  of  whose  proceedings  Mr. 
Wesley  is  become  the  apologist,  have  burnt  the  houses  of 
their  inoffensive  Catholic  neighbours  ;  we  will  convert  them 
to  their  proper  use.  In  Ireland,  the  revolution  of  the  great 
Platonic  year  is  almost  completed.  Things  are  re-instated  in 
their  primitive  order.     And  the  fagot,  which,  without  any 

R 


120  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

mission  from  Christ,  preached  the  Gospel  by  orders  of 
Catholic  and  Protestant'  kings,  is  confined  to  the  kitchen. 
Thus,  what  formerly  roasted  the  man  at  the  stake,  now 
helps  to  leed  him  ;  and  nothing  but  the  severity  of  winter, 
and  the  coidness  of  the  climate  in  Scotland,  could  justify 
Mr.  Wesley  in  urging  the  rabble  to  light  it.  This  is  a 
bad  time  to  introduce  it  amongst  us,  when  we  begin  to 
be  formidable  to  our  foes,  and  united  amongst  ourselves. 
And  to  the  glory  of  Ireland,  be  it  said,  we  never  con- 
demned but  murderers  and  perpetrators  of  unnatural  crimes 
to  the  fagot. 

By  a  statute  of  Henry  the  Sixth,  every  Englishman  of  the 
Pale*  was  bound  to  shave  his  upper  lip,  or  clip  his  whiskers, 
in  order  to  distinguish  himself  from  an  Irishman.  By  this 
mark  of  distinction,  it  seems  that  what  Campion  calls  in  his  old 
English,  glib,  and  what  we  call  the  beard,  as  well  as  the  com- 
plexion and  size  of  both  people,  were  much  the  same.  In  mjr 
opinion,  it  had  tended  more  to  their  mutual  interest,  and  the 
glory  of  that  monarch's  reign,  not  to  go  to  the  nicety  of 
splitting  a  hair,  but  encourage  the  growth  of  their  fleeces,  and 
inspire  them  with  such  mutual  love  for  each  other,  as  to  in- 
duce them  to  kiss  one  another's  beards  ;  as  brothers  salute 
each  other* at  Constantinople,  after  a  few  days  absence.  I 
am  likewise  of  opinion,  that  Mr.  Wesley,  who  prefaces  his 
letter  with  '  the  interest  of  the  Protestant  religion,'  would  re- 
fleet  more  honour  on  his  ministry,  in  promoting  the  happiness 
of  the  people,  by  preaching  love  and  union,  than  in  widening 
the  breach,  and  increasing  their  calamities  by  division. 
The  English  and  Irish  were,  at  that  time,  of  the  same 
religion  ;  but,  divided  in  their  affections,  were  miserable. — 
Though  divided  in  speculative  opinions,  if  united  in  senti- 
ment, we  would  be  happy.  The  English  settlers  breathed 
the  vital  air  in  England,  before  they  inhaled  the  soft  breezes 
of  our  temperate  climate.  The  present  generation  can  say, 
'our  fathers  and  grandfathers  have  been  born,  bred,  and 
'buried  here.  We  are  Irishmen,  as  the  descendants  of 
'the  Normans,  who  have  been  born  in  England,  are 
'  Englishmen.' 


*  Seethe  statutes   of  that  king';  and  lament  the  effects  of  divisions  fomented  ht 
sovereigns. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  121 

Thus,  bom  in  an  island  in  which  the  ancients  might  have 
placed  their  Hesperian  gardens  and  golden  apples,  the  tem- 
perature of  the  climate,  and  quality  of  the  soil  inimical  to 
poisonous  insects,  have  cleansed  our  veins  from  the  sour  and 
acid  blood  of  the  Scythians  and  Saxons.  We  begin  to  open 
our  eyes  and  to  learn  wisdom  from  the  experience  of  ages.— 
We  are  lender-hearted  :  we  are  good-natured  :  we  have  feel- 
fogs.  We  shed  tears  on  the  urns  of  the  dead;  deplore  the 
loss  of  hecatombs  of  victims  slaughtered  on  the  gloomy  altars 
of  religious  bigotry  ;  cry  in  seeing  the  ruins  of  cities  over 
which  fanaticism  has  displayed  the  funeral  torch  ;  and  sin- 
cerely pity  the  blind  zeal  of  our  Scotch  and  English  neigh- 
bours, whose  constant  character  is  to  pity  none,  for  erecting 
the  banners  of  persecution,  at  a  time  when  the  inquisition  is 
abolished  in  Spain  and  Milan,  and  the  Protestant  gentry  are 
caressed  at  Home,  and  live  unmolested  in  the  luxuriant  plains 
of  France  and  Italy. 

The  statute  of  Henry  the  Sixth  is  now  grown  obsolete.-— 
The  razor  of  calamity  has  shaved  our  lower  and  upper  lips, 
and  given  us  smooth  faces.  Our  land  is  uncultivated  ;  our 
country  a  desart ;  our  natives  are  forced  into  the  service  of 
foreign  kings,  storming  towns,  and  in  the  very  heat  of  slaugh- 
ter, tempering  Irish  courage  with  Irish  mercy.*  All  our 
misfortunes  flow  from  long- reigning  intolerance,  and  the 
storms  which,  gathering  first  in  the  Scotch  and  English  at- 
mosphere, never  failed  to  burst  over  our  heads. 

We  are  too  wise  to  quarrel  about  religion.  The  Roman 
Catholics  sing  their  spalms  in  Latin,  with  a  few  inflections  of 
the  voice.  Our  Protestant  neighbours  sing  the  same  psalms 
in  English,  on  a  larger  scale  of  musical  notes.  We  never 
quarrel  with  our  honest  and  worthy  neighbours,  the  Quakers, 
for  not  singing  at  all ;  nor  shall  we  ever  quarrel  with  Mr. 
Wesley  for  raising  his  voice  to  heaven,  and  warbling  forth  his 
canticles  on  whatever  tune  he  pleases  ;  whether  it  be  the  tune 
of  guardian  angels  or  langolee.  We  like  social  harmony; 
and,  in  civil  music,  hate  discordance.     Thus,  when  we  go 

*  Count  Dillon  and  the  Irish  brigade  could  not  be  prevailed  on  by  D'Estaing-  to  put 
the  English  »:irrison  to  the  sword.  '  We  will  not  kill  our  countrymen,'  said  they  ; 
'  would  it  not  be  wiser  to  let  these  gallant  men  go  to  mass,  and  serve  their  ow  t 
king-? 


122  MISCELI#NE0US    TRACTS. 

to  the  shambles,  we  never  enquire  into  the  butcher's  reli- 
gion ;  but  into  the  quality  of  his  meat.  We  care  not  whe- 
ther the  ox  was  fed  in  the  Pope's  territories,  or  on  the  moun- 
tains of  Scotland,  provided  the  joint  be  good  ;  for,  though 
there  be  many  heresies  in  old  books,  we  discover  neither  he- 
resy nor  superstition  in  beef  and  claret.  We  divide  them 
cheerfully  with  one  another ;  and,  though  of  different  reli- 
gions, we  sit  over  the  bowl  with  as  much  cordiality  as  if  we 
were  at  a  love -feast. 

The  Protestant  associations  of  Scotland  and  England  may 
pity  us ;  but  we  feel  more  comfort  than  if  we  were  scorching 
one  another  with  fire  and  fagot.  Instead  of  singing  *  peace 
*  to  men  of  good  will  on  earth,*  does  Mr.  Wesley  intend  to 
sound  the  fury  of  Alecto's  horn,  or  the  war-shell  of  the  Mex- 
icans ?  The  Irish,  who  have  no  resource  but  in  their  union, 
does  he  mean  to  arm  them  against  each  other  ?  One  massa- 
cre, to  which  the  fanaticism  of  the  Scotch  and  English  regi- 
cides give  rise,  is  more  than  enough  :  Mr.  Wesley  should 
not  sow  the  seeds  of  a  second.  When  he  felt  the  first-fruits 
and  illapses  of  the  spirit — when  his  zeal,  too  extensive  to  be 
confined  within  the  majestic  temples  of  the  church  of  Eng- 
land, or  the  edifying  meeting-houses  of  the  other  Christians^ 
prompted  him  to  travel  most  parts  of  Europe  and  America, 
and  to  establish  a  religion  and  houses  of  worship  of  his  own, 
what  opposition  has  he  not  met  with  from  the  civil  magis- 
trates !  with  what  insults  from  the  rabble  !  broken  benches, 
dead  cats,  and  pools  of  water  bear  witness.  Was  he  then  the 
trumpeter  of  persecution  ?  Was  his  pulpit  changed  into  Hu- 
dibras's  *  drum  ecclesiastic  ?'  Did  he  abet  banishment  and 
proscription  on  the  score  of  conscience  ?  Now  that  his  ta- 
bernacle is  established  in  peace,  after  the  clouds  having  borne 
testimony  to  his  mission,*  he  complains  in  his  second  letter, 
wherein  he  promises  to  continue  the  fire  which  he  has  already 
kindled  in  England,  that  people  of  exalted  ranks  in  church 
and  state,  have  refused  entering  into  a  mean  confederacy 
against  the  laws  of  nature,  and  the  rights  of  mankind.  In  his 
first  letter,  he  disclaims  persecution  on  the  score  of  religion  ; 


*  See  an  abridgment  of  Wesley's  journal,  wherein  he  says,  that  in  preaching'  one  day 
at  Kinsale,  a  cloud  pitched  over  him. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  123 

and,  in  the  same  breath,  strikes  out  a  creed  of  hisown  for 
the  Roman  Catholics ;  and  says,  that  '  they  should  not  be 
4  tolerated  even  amongst  the  Turks.'  Thus,  the  satyr  in  the 
fable  breathes  hot  and  cold  in  the  same  blast ;  and  a  Iamb 
of  peace  is  turned  inquisitor !  '  But  is  not  that  creed  men- 
mentioned  4  by  Mr.  Wesley,  the  creed  of  the  Roman  Ca- 
tholics?' By  right  it  should  be  theirs:  as  it  is  so  often 
bestowed  on  them,  and  that,  according  to  the  civil  law,  a 
free  gift  becomes  the  property  of  the  person  to  whom  it  is 
bestowed,  if  there  be  no  legal  disqualification  en  either  side. 
But  the  misfortune  is,  that  the  Catholics  and  the  framers  of 
the  fictitious  creed,  so  often  refuted,  and  still  forced  on  them, 
resemble  the  Frenchman  and  the  blunderer  in  the  comedv : 
one  forces  into  the  other's  mouth  a  food  which  he  cannot 
relish,  and  against  which  his  stomach  revolts. 

Mr.  Wesley  places  in  the  front  of  his  lines,  the  general 
Council  of  Constance ;  places  the  Pope  in  the  centre :  and 
brings  up  the  re  re  of  his  squadrons  with  a  confabulation 
between  a  priest  and  a  woman;  whilst  his  letters  are  skir- 
mishing on  the  wings.  Let  us  march  from  the  rere  to  the 
front:  for  religious  warriors  seldom  observe  order. 

A  priest  then  said  to  a  woman  whom  Mr.  Wesley  knows, 
'  I  see  you  are  no  heretic:  you  have  the  experience  of  a 
•  real  Christian.'  4  And  would  you  burn  me  ?'  said  she, 
4  God  forbid,'  replied  the  priest,  '  except  for  the  good  of 
4  the  church.'  Now  this  priest  must  be  descended  from 
some  of  those  who  attempted  to  blow  up  a  river  with  gun- 
powder, in  order  to  drown  a  city.*  Or  he  must  have  taken 
her  for  a  witch ;  whereas,  by  his  own  confession,  '  she  was 
no  heretic'  A  gentleman  whom  /  know,  declared  to  me, 
upon  his  honour,  that  he  heard  Mr.  Wesley  repeat,  in  a 
sermon  preached  by  him  in  the  city  of  Cork,  the  following 
words  :  4  A  little  bird  cried  out  in  Hebrew — O  Eternity ! 
4  Eternity  !  who  can  tell  the  length  of  Eternity  ?'  I  am  then 
of  opinion,  that  a  little  Hebrew  bird  gave  Mr.  Wesley  the 
important  information  about  the  priest  and  the  woman.  One 
story  is  as  interesting  as  the  other :  and  both  are  equally- 
alarming  to  the  Protestant  interest.  Hitherto  it  is  a  drawn 
battle  between  us :  from  the  rere,  then,  let  us  advance  to 

*  Among  other  plots   attributed  to  the  Roman  Catholics  in  the  reign  of  Charles  the 
First,  this  extraordinary  one  was  thrown  upon  them.    See  Hume. 


124  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

the  van,  an  J  try  if  the  general  Council  of  Constance,  which 
Mr.  Wesley  places  at  the  head  of  his  legions,  be  impenetrable 
to  the  sword  of  truth. 

After  reading  the  ecclesiastical  history  concerning  that 
council,  and  Doctor  Hay's  answer  to  Archibald  Drummond, 
I  have  gone  through  the  drudgery  of  examining  it  all  over 
in  St.  Patrick's  library,  when  Mr.  Wesley's  letters  made 
their  appearance.  The  result  of  my  researches  is,  a  con- 
viction, that  there  is  no  such  doctrine  as  *  violation   of  faith 

*  with  heretics,'  authorized  by  that  Council.  Pope  Martin 
V.  whom  the  fathers  of  that  Council  elected,  published  a 
bull,  wherein  he  declares  that  4  it  is  not  lawful  for  a  man  to 
'  perjure  himself,  on  any  account  j  even  for  the  faith.'  Sub- 
sequent pontiffs  have  lopped  off  the  excrescence  of  relaxed 
casuistry. 

The  Pope's  horns,  then,  are  not  so  dangerous,  as  to  in- 
duce Mr.  Wesley  to  sing  the  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah  the 
Prophet,  deploring  the  loss  of  Jerusalem  :  or  to  send  us 
from  London  an  Hebrew  elegy,  to  be  modulated  on  the 
key  of  the  Irish  Ologone.  4  Their  souls  are  pained,  and 
fc  their  hearts  trembling  for  the  ark  of  God.*  Tell  it  not  in 
4Gath;  publish  it  not  in  the  streets   of  Askelon :  lest  the 

*  daughters  of  the  Philistines  rejoice :  lest  the  daughters  of 
'  the  uncircumcised  triumph.' 

This  same  elegy  resounded  through  Great  Britain  a  little 
T>efore  the  ark  of  England  was  destroyed,  the  sceptre  wrested 
out  of  the  hands  of  her  king,  her  pontiffs  deprived  of  their 
mitres,  and  her  noblemen  banished  from  the  Senate.  Thus, 
as  the  Delphian  sword  slaughtered  the  victim  in  honour  of 
the  Gods,  and  dispatched  the  criminal  on  whom  the  sentence 
of  the  law  was  passed ;  the  scripture  is  made  subservient  to 
profane,  as  well  as  sacred  purposes.  It  recommends  and  en- 
forces subordination;  and,  at  the  same  time,  becomes  an  ar- 
senal from  whence  faction  takes  its  arms.  Like  Boileau's 
heroes,  in  the  Battle  of  the  Books,  we  ransack  old  councils  ; 
we  disturb  the  bones  of  old  divines,  who,  wrapped  up  in  their 
parchment  blankets,  sleep  at  their  ease  on  the  shelves  of  libra- 
ries, where  they  would  snore  for  ever,  if  the  noise  of  the 
gunpowder,  upon  an  anniversary  day,  or  the  restless  hands 
of  pamphlet-writers,  industrious  in  inflaming  the  rabble,  did 

*  Defence  of  the  Protestant  Association,  p.  116. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  125 

not  rouse  them  from  their  slumbers.  Peace  to  their  manes ! 
The  charity  sermon  preached  in  Dublin,  by  Doctor  Camp- 
bell— the  anniversary  sermon  preached  in  Cork,  last  No- 
vember, by  Doctor  la  Malliere — and  the  discourse  to  the 
Echlinville  volunteers,  by  Mr.  Dickson — have  done  more 
good  in  one  day,  either  by  procuring  relief  for  the  dis- 
tressed, or  by  promoting  benevolence,  peace,  and  harmony 
amongst  fellow-subjects  of  all  denominations,  than  the  folios 
written  on  Pope  Joan  have  done  in  the  space  of  two  hun- 
dred years. 

I  must  now  sound  the  retreat,  with  a  design  to  return  to 
the  charge,  and  to  attack  Mr.  Wesley's  first  battery,  on 
which  he  has  mounted  the  canons  of  the  Council  of  Con- 
stance. If  I  cannot  succeed  (from  want  of  abilities,  but  not 
from  want  of  the  armour  of  truth,)  I  am  sure  of  making 
a  retreat,  in  which  it  is  impossible  to  cut  me  off.  For,  in  the 
very  supposition  that  the  Council  of  Constance,  and  all  the 
councils  of  the  world,  had  defined  *  violation  of  faith  with 
*  heretics,'  as  an  article  of  faith,  and  that  I  do  not  believe  it; 
4  violation,'  then,  »  of  faith  with  heretics,'  is  no  article  of  my 
belief.  For,  to  form  one's  belief,  it  is  not  sufficient  to  read 
a  proposition  in  a  book :  interior  conviction  must  captivate 
the  mind.  The  Arian  reads  the  divinity  of  Christ  in  the 
New  Testament,  and  still  denies  it.  Would  Mr.  Wesley 
assert  that  the  divinity  of  Christ  is  an  article  of  the  Arian 
faith?  If,  then,  i  violation  of  faith  with  heretics,'  be  the 
tessera  jidei,  the  badge  of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  the 
Roman  Catholics  are  all  Protestants,  and  as  well  entitled  to 
sing  their  psalms,  as  Mr.  Wesley  his  canticles.  I  would 
not  be  one  hour  a  member  of  any  religion  that  would 
profess  such  a  creed  as  Mr.  Wesley  has  sent  us  from  Lon- 
don. 

You  may,  perhaps,  be  surprised,  Gentlemen,  that  the 
introduction  to  a  serious  subject  should  savour  so  little 
of  the  gloom  and  sullenness  so  familiar  to  polemical  writers; 
or  that  the  ludicrous  and  serious  should  be  so  ciosely  inter- 
woven with  each  other. — 

But  remark  a  set  of  men  who  tax  the  nobility,  gentry, 
and  head  clergy  of  England  with  degeneracy,  for  not  de- 
grading the  dignity  of  their  ranks  and  professions.  Remark 
them    exposing   their  parchments   in  meeting-houses  and 


126  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

t 

vestries,  begging  the  signatures  of  every  peasant  and  men- 
dicant, who  comes  to  hear  the  gospel :  4  Wrong  no  man  ; 
*  he  that  loves  his  neighbour  fulfils  the  law,'  &c.  and  those 
pious  souls  '  pained  and  trembling  for  the  ark  of  God,'  run- 
ning wi  til  the  faggot  to  kindle  the  flames  of  sedition,  and  to 
oppress  their  neighbours.  Remark,  in  seventeen  hundred 
and  eighty,  a  lord  with  his  hair  cropped,  a  bible  in  his  hand, 
turned  elder  and  high-priest  at  the  age  of  twenty-  three,  and 
fainting  for  the  Ark  of  Israel 

In  the  fore-ground  of  this  extraordinary  picture,  remark 
a  Missionary,  who  has  reformed  the  very  reformation  ;  se- 
parated from  all  the  Protestant  churches,  and  in  trimming 
the  vessel  of  religion,  which  he  has  brought  into  a  new  dock, 
has  suffered  as  much  for  the  sake  of  conscience,  as  Lodowick 
Muggleton  or  James  Nailer  could  register  in  their  martyro- 
logy.  Remark  that  same  gentleman  inflaming  the  sabble, 
dividing  his  Majesty's  subjects,  propagating  black  slander, 
and  throwing  the  gauntlet  to  people  who  never  provoked 
him.  Is  not  fanaticism,  the  mother  of  cruelty,  and  the 
daughter  of  folly,  the  first  character  in  this  religious  mas- 
querade ?  Is  it  not  the  first  spring  that  gives  motion  to 
these  extraordinary  figures,  so  corresponsive  to  Hogarth's 
Enraged  Musician  ?  And  in  fencing  with  folly,  have  not  the 
gravest  authors  handled  the  foils  of  ridicule  ?  To  the  mo- 
dern Footes  and  Molieres,  or  to  the  young  student  in  rhe- 
toric, who  employs  irony  in  enlarging  on  his  theme,  should 
I  for  ever  leave  the  « pained  souls  and  trembling  hearts,'  of 
the  Scotch  Jonathan  and  the  English  Samuel,  with  their 
squadrons  of  Israelites  fighting  'for  the  ark  of  the  Lord,'  if 
what  they  style  in  England  the  Gordonian  Associations,  had 
not  voted  their  thanks  to  Mr.  Weslev,  for  what  they  call  his 
excellent  letter.  Such  a  performance  is  worthy  the  approba- 
tion of  such  censors :  and  in  their  holy  shrines  the  sacred 
relic  should  be  reposited.  In  examining  a  performance 
which  contains  in  a  small  compass,  all  the  horrors  invented 
by  blind  and  misguided  zeal,  set  forth  in  the  most  bitter 
language,  I  shall  confine  myself  to  the  strict  line  of  an 
apologist,  who  clears  himself  and  his  principles  from  the 
foulest  aspersions.  To  the  public  and  their  impartial  rea- 
son, the  appeal  shall  be  made  :  to  the  sentiments  implanted 
in  the  human  breast,  and  to  the  conduct  of  man,  not  to  the 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  127 

rubbish  of  the  schools,  Mr.  Wesley  should  have  made  applica- 
tion, when  tie  undertook  to  solve  the  interesting  problem,  whe- 
ther the  Roman  Catholics  should  be  tolerated,  or  persecuted? 
But  inspired  writers  partake  of  the  spirit  of  the  seers,  and 
copy  as  much  as  possible  after  the  prophets ;  the  prophet 
Ezekiet  breathed  on  a  pile  of  bones,  and  lo !  a  formidable 
army  starting  from  the  earth  and  ranging  itself  in  battle 
array.  Mr.  Wesley  blows  the  dust  of  an  old  book,  andlo  ! 
squadrons  of  religious  warriors  engaged  in  a  crusade  for  the 
extirpation  of  the  infidels. 

The  loyalty,  the  conduct,  the  virtues  common  to  all,  the 
natural  attachment  of  man  to  his  interest  and  country,  the 
peaceable  behaviour  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  have  no  weight 
in  the  scale  of  candour  and  justice.  An  old  Council,  held 
four  hundred  years  ago,  is  ransacked  and  misconstrued ;  a 
Roman  Catholic  is  unworthy  of  being  tolerated  amongst  the 
Turks,  because  Mr.  Wesley  puts  on  his  spectacles  to  read 
©Id  Latin. 

I  have  the  honour  to  remain, 
.:  Gentlemen, 
Your  humble,  and  obedient  Servant, 


ARTHUR  O'LEARY. 


MaryVLane,    Dublin, 
February  '28,    1780 


LETTER  II. 


(Addressed  as  the  Former.) 


Gentlemen, 

Fanaticism  is  a  kind  of  religious  folly.  We  laughed  at 
it  in  a  former  letter.  Whoever  has  a  mind  to  indulge  his 
humour  at  our  expence,  is  heartily  welcome.  You  now  ex- 
pect a  serious  answer  to  a  serious  charge.  I  send  you  such 
as  occurs. 

'  The  Council  of  Constance  has  openly  avowed  violation 
4  of  faith  with  heretics :  but  it  has  never  been  disclaimed. — 
4  Therefore,'  concludes  Mr.  Wesley,  '  the  Roman  Catholics 
4  should  not  be  tolerated  amongst  the  Turks  or  Pa- 
4  gans.' 

A  Council  so  often  quoted  in  anniversary  sermons,  parlia- 
mentary debates,  and  flying  pamphlets,  challenges  peculiar 
attention.  We  shall  examine  it  with  as  much  precision  as 
possible,  and  with  the  more  impartiality,  as  strict  justice 
shall  be  done  to  all  parties.  Mr.  Wesley  knows  that  we  are 
all  Adam's  children,  who  feel  the  fatal  impressions  of  our 
origin,  and  that  ambition  which  took  its  rise  in  heaven  itself, 
often  lurks  in  a  corner  of  the  sanctuary  where  the  ministers 
of  religion  offer  up  their  prayers,  as  well  as  in  the  cabinets 
of  kings,  where  shrewd  courtiers  form  their  intrigues.   At  a 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  129 

time,  then,  when  ambition,  that  insatiable  desire  of  elevation, 
that  worm  which  stings  the  heart,  and  never  leaves  it  at  rest, 
presented  the  universe  with  the  extraordinary  sight  of  three 
prelates  reviving  the  restless  spirit  of  the  Roman  triumvirate, 
and  disturbing  the  peace  of  mankind  as  much  with  their  spiri- 
tual weapons,  as  Octavius,  Athony,  and  Lepidus  had  dis- 
turbed it  with  their  armed  legions — at  a  time  when  the 
broachers  of  new  doctrines  were  kindling  up  the  fire  of  se* 
dition,  and  after  shaking  the  foundations  of  what  was  then 
the  established  religion,  were  shaking  the  foundations  of 
thrones  and  empires — at  that  critical  time,  in.  1414,  was 
held  the  Council  of  Constance,  with  a  design,  as  the  fathers 
of  that  Council  express  themselves,  to  reform  the  church  in 
her  head  and  members;  and  put  an  end  to  the  calamities 
which  the  restless  pride  of  three  bishops,  assuming  the  titles 
of  Popes  by  the  names  of  Gregory  the  Twelfth,  Benedict  the 
Thirteenth,  and  John  the  Twenty-third,  had  brought  on  Eu- 
rope, split  into  three  grand  factions  by  the  ambition  of  the 
above-mentioned  competitors.  Such  transactions  in  the 
ministers  of  a  religion  that  preaches  up  peace  and  humility, 
as  the  solid  foundations  on  which  the  structure  of  all  Chris- 
tian virtues  is  to  be  raised,  may  startle  the  unthinking  reader, 
and  give  him  an  unfavourable  idea  of  religion :  but  we  are 
never  to  confound  the  weakness  of  the  minister  with  the  ho- 
liness of  his  ministry.  We  respect  the  sanctuary  in  which 
Stephen  officiated — though  Nicholas  profaned  it:  we  revere 
the  place  from  whence  Judas  fell — and  to  which  Matthias 
was  promoted:  the  scriptures  respect  the  chair  of  Moses — 
though  they  censure  several  pontiffs  who  sat  in  it;  and  no 
Catholic  canonizes  the  vices  of  Popes — though  he  respects 
their  station  and  dignity.  The  pontifical  throne  is  still  the 
same,  whether  it  be  filled  with  a  cruel  Alexander  the  Sixth, 
or  a  benevolent  Ganganelii. 

To  the  Council  of  Constance  was  cited  then  John  Huss,  a 
Bohemian,  famous  for  propagating  errors  tending  to  tear 
the  mitre  from  the  heads  of  bishops,  and  wrest  the  sceptre 
from  the  hands  of  kings :  in  a  word,  lie  was  obnoxious  to 
Church  and  State  ;  and  if  Mr.  Wesley  and  1  preached  up 
his  doctrine  in  the  name  of  God,  we  would  be  condemned  in 
the  name  of  the  King.  The  Protestant  and  Catholic  divines 
would  banish  us  from  their  universities*,  and  the  judges  of 


130  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

assize  would  exterminate  us  from  civil  society.  Such  a 
Doctor  had  no  indulgence  to  expect  from  a  Council,  which, 
after  deposing  two  rivals  for  the  Popedom,  condemned  a 
third  for  contumacy,  and  elected  another  in  his  room. 

Burin  mentioning  John  Huss,  whose  trial  and  execution 
at  Constance  have  given  rise  to  the  foul  charge  of  violation 
of  faith  with  heretics,  let  none  imagine  that  I  am  an  apolo- 
gist for  the  fiery  execution  of  persons,  on  the  score  of  reli- 
gious opinions.  Let  the  legislators  who  were  the  first  tp 
invent  the  cruel  method  of  punishing  the  errors  of  the  mind 
with  the  excruciating  tortures  of  the  hody,  and  anticipating 
the  rigour  of  eternal  justice,  answer  for  their  own  laws.  I  am 
of  opinion  that  the  true  religion,  propagated  by  the  effusion 
of  the  blood  of  its  martyrs,  would  still  triumph  without 
burning  the  flesh  of  heretics ;  and  that  the  Protestant*  and 
Catholic  legislators  who  have  substituted  the  blazing  pile  in 
the  room  of  Phalaris's  brazen  bull,  might  have  pointed  out 
a  more  lenient  punishment  for  victims,  who,  in  their  opinion, 
had  no  prospect  during  the  interminable  space  of  a  bound- 
less eternity,  but  that  of  passing  from  one  fire  into  another.  If 
in  enacting  such  laws  they  had  consulted  the  true  spirit  of 
religion,  I  believe  the  reformation  of  their  own  hearts  would 
have  been  a  more  acceptable  sacrifice  to  the  Divinity,  than 
hecatombs  of  human  victims.  '  No  God  nor  man,'  says  Ter- 
tullian,  '  should  be  pleased  with  a  forced  service.'  '  We  are 
4  not  to  persecute  those  whom  God  tolerates,'  says  St.  Au- 
gustine. That  faith  is  fictitious  which  is  inspired  by  the 
edge  of  the  sword. 

But  still  the  nature  of  society  is  such,  that  when  once 
the  common  land-marks  are  set  up,  it  opposes  the  hand  of 
the  individual  that  attempts  to  remove  them.  Where  one 
common  mode  of  worship  is  established,  and  fenced  by  the 
laws  of  the  state,  whoever  attempts  to  overthrow  it,  must 
expect  to  meet  with  opposition  and  violence,  until  custom 
softens  the  rigour  of  early  prejudices,  and  reconciles  us  to 
men  whose  features  and  lineaments  are  like  our  own, 
but  still  seem  strange  to  us,  because  their  thoughts  are 
different. 


*  The   imperial  laws  winch  condemned  heretics   to   the   flames,  hare  been  put  into 
execution  by  Calviu,Qneea Elizabeth,  James  the  First,  &c. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  131 

How  far  opposition  to  religious  innovations  is  justifiable, 
is  not  our  business  to  discuss.  But  the  experience  of  ages 
evinces  the  fact ;  and  in  dissimilar  circumstances,  Mr.  Wes- 
ley has  made  the  trial.  In  kingdoms,  where,  as  in  the  Ro- 
man Pantheon,  every  divinity  had  its  altars,  speculative  de- 
viations from  the  religion  established  by  law,  the  singularity 
of  love-feasts  and  nocturnal  meetings,  so  unusual  among  the 
modern  Christians  of  every  denomination,  roused  the  vigi- 
lance of  the  magistrate,  and  influenced  the  rage  of  the  rab- 
ble. Now,  that  custom  has  rendered  Mr.  Wesley's  meet- 
ing-houses and  mode  of  worship  familiar,  and  that  all  deno- 
minations enjoy  a  share  of  that  religious  liberty,  whereof  he 
would  fain  deprive  his  Roman  Catholic  neighbour,  his  matin 
hymns  give  no  uneasiness  either  to  the  magistrate,  or  his 
neighbours.  But  had  Mr.  Wesley  raised  his  notes  on  the 
high  key  of  civil  discordance — had  he  attempted  by  his  ser- 
mons, his  writings  and  exhortations,  to  deprive  the  Bishops 
of  the  established  religion,  of  their  croziers;  kings  of  their 
thrones;  and  magistrates  of  the  sword  of  justice  ;  long  ere 
now  would  his  pious  labours  have  been  crowned  with  mar- 
tyrdom, and  his  name  registered  in  the  calendar  of  Fox's 
Saints.  Such,  unfortunately,  was  the  case  of  John  Huss. 
Not  satisfied  with  overthrowing  what  was  then  the  established 
religion,  and  levelling  the  fences  of  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction, 
he  strikes  at  the  root  of  all  temporal  power,  and  civil  autho- 
rity.    He  boldly  asserts  that    *  princes,   magistrates,   &c.  in 

*  the  state  of  mortal  sin,  are  deprived  ipso  facto  of  all  power 

*  and  jurisdiction.'*  In  this  doctrine  was  enveloped  the 
seeds  of  anarchy  and  sedition,  which  subsequent  preachers 
unfolded  to  the  destruction  of  peace  and  tranquillity,  almost 
all  over  Europe ;  and  which  Sir  William  Blackstone  de- 
scribes as  follows :  '  The  dreadful  effects  of  such  a  religious 

*  bigotry,  when  actuated  by  erroneous  principles,  even  of 

*  the  Protestant  kind,  are  sufficiently  evident  from  the  his- 
4  tory  of  the  Anabaptistsf  in  Germany,  the   Covenanters  in 

*  See  the  acts  of  the  Council  of  Constance  in  L' Abbe's  collection  of  Councils. 

•f  This  is  no  imputation  on  the  Anabaptists  of  our  days,  who  are  as  peaceable  and 
good  men  as  auy  others.  Men's  opinions  change  with  the  times,  as  in  different  stages 
of  life  we  change  our  thoughts,  and  settle  at  the  age  of  forty  the  roving  imagination  of 
sixteen.  Custom  and  mutual  intercourse  amongst  fellow-subjects  of  every  denomina- 
tion, would  soon  quench  the  remaining  sparks  of  religious  feuds,  if  distinctive  laws 
were  abolished.  But,  unfortunately  for  the  society  in  which  we  live,  the  laws,  whose 
aim  should  be  to  unite  the  inhabitants,  are   calculated  to  divide  tUem.      My  neighbour 


132  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

*  Scotland,   and   the  deluge  of  sectaries  in  England,  who 

*  murdered  their  sovereign,  overturned  the  church  and  mo- 

*  narchy,  shook  every  pillar  of  law,  justice,  and  private  pro- 

*  perty,  and  most  devoutly  established  a  kingdom  of  saints 
{  in  their  stead.'* 

John  Huss,  then,  after  broaching  the  above  mentioned  doc- 
trines, and  making  Bohemia  the  theatre  of  intestine  war,  is 
summoned  to  appear  before  the  Council.  He  obtains  a  safe 
conduct  from  the  Emperor  Sigismund,  commanding  go- 
vernors of  provinces,  &c.  not  to  molest  him  on  his  journev 
to,  or  return  from  Constance ;  but  to  afford  him  every  aid 
and  assistance.  In  all  the  provinces  and  cities  through  which 
he  passes,  he  gives  public  notice  of  his  intention  to  appear 
before  the  Council  and  stand  his  trial.  But  instead  of  stand- 
ing his  trial,  and  retracting  his  errors,  he  attempts  to  make 
his  escape,  in  order  to  disseminate,  and  make  them  take 
deeper  root.  He  is  arrested  and  confined,  in  order  that  he 
should  take  his  trial,  after  having  violated  his  promise,  and 
abused  a  safe  conduct  granted  him  for  the  purpose  of  excul- 
pating himself,  or  retracting  his  errors,  if  proved  against  him 
before  his  competent  judges.  It  is  here  to  be  remarked,  that 
John  Huss  was  an  ecclesiastic  ;  and  that  in  spiritual  cases  the 
bishops  were  his  only  and  competent  judges.  The  bounda- 
ries of  the  two  powers,  I  mean  the  church  and  state,  being 
kept  distinct ;  the  censer  left  to  the  pontiff,  and  the  sword  to 
the  magistrate ;  the  church  confined  to  her  spiritual  weapons  ; 
privation  of  life  and  limb,  and  corporeal  punishments  being 
quite  of  the  province  of  the  state ;  one  should  not  interfere 
with  the  other.  As  the  bodv  of  the  criminal  is  under  the 
controul  of  the  magistrate,  too  jealous  of  his  privilege  to  per- 
mit the  church  to  interfere  with  his  power — so,  erroneous 

distrust's  mc,  because  the  penal  laws  held  me  forth  as  a  reprobate  before  I  was  horn, 
and  during  my  life  encourage  him  to  seize  my  horse,  or  drag  ine  before  a  magistrate  for 
saying  my  prayers,  which  reduces  me  to  the  sad  necessity  of  hating  him,  or  considering 
liim  a.,  an  enemy,  if  in  the  great  struggle  between  nature  and  grace,  religion  does  not 
triumph.  Before  Lewis  the  Fourteenth  and  George  the  First,  repealed  the  lawtagainst 
witches,  every  disfigured  old  woman  was  in  danger  of  her  life,  and  considered  as  a  sor- 
ceress Since  the  witch-making  laws  have  been  repealed,  there  is  not  a  witch  in  the 
land,  and  the  dairy-maid  is  not  under  the  necessity  of  using  counter-charms  to  hinder 
the  milk  from  being  enchanted  from  her  pail  Thus,  if  the  penal  laws,  which  by  a 
kind  of  omnipotence  create  an  original  sin,  making  rogues  of  Catholics  before  they 
reach  llieir  hands  to  the  tempting  fruit,  were  once  repealed,  they  would  be  as  honest  as 
their  neighbours,  and  the  objects  of  their  love  and  confidence. 

*  Blackstone's  Commentaries,  vol.  IV.  chap.  8. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  133 

doctrines  are  under  the  controulof  spiritual  judges,  too  jea- 
lous of  their  prerogatives,  to  permit  the  civil  magistrate  to 
interfere  with  their  rights.  Hence,  when  the  partizans  of 
Huss  raised  clamours  about  his  confinement,  and  pleaded  his 
safe  conduct,  the  Council  published  the  famous  decree  which 
has  given  rise  to  so  many  cavils,  for  the  space  of  four  hun- 
dred years,  though  thousands  of  laws  of  a  more  important 
nature,  and  of  which  we  now  think  but  little,  have  been 
published  since  that  time.    The  Council  declares,  '  that  every 

*  safe  conduct  granted  by  the  Emperor,  Kings,  and  other 
'  temporal  princes,  to  heretics,  or  persons  accused  of  heresy, 
1  ought  not  to  be  of  any  prejudice  to  the  Catholic  faith,  or  to 

*  the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction ;  nor  to  hinder  that  such  per- 

*  sons  may  and  ought  to  be  examined,  judged,  and  punished, 
'according  as  justice  shall  require,  if  those  heretics  refuse  to 
'  revoke  their  errors :  and  the  person  who  shall  have  pro- 

*  mised  them  security,  shall  not,  in  this  case,  be  obliged  to 
*.  keep  his  promise,  by  whatever  tie  he  may  be  engaged,  be- 
'  cause  he  has  done  all  that  is  in  his  power  to  do.'  I  ap- 
peal to  the  impartial  public,  whether  that  declaration  of  the 
Council  does  not  regard  the  peculiar  case  of  safe-conducts, 
granted  by  temporal  princes,  to  perons  who  are  liable  to  be 
tried  by  competent  and  independent  tribunals?  And, 
whether  it  be  not  an  insult  to  candour  and  common  sense, 
to  give  it  such  a  latitude  as  to  extend  it  to  every  lawful 
promise,  contract,  or  engagement  between  man  and  man  ? 
As  if  the  Council  of  Constance  meant  to  authorize  me 
to  buy  my  neighbour's  goods,  and  after  a  solemn  promise 
to  pay  him,  still  to  keep  his  substance,  and  break  my 
word.  The  church  and  state  are  two  distinct  and  inde- 
pendent powers,  each  in  its  peculiar  line.  A  man  is  to  be 
tried  by  the  church  for  erroneous  doctrines:  a  temporal 
prince  grants  this  man  a  safe-conduct,  to  guard  his  person 
from  any  violence  which  may  be  offered  him  on  his  jour- 
ney; and  to  procure  him  a  fair  and  candid  trial,  on  his 
appearance  before  his  lawful  judges. — Has  not  this  prince 
done  all  that  is  in  his  power  to  do  ?  Doth  his  promise  to  such 
a  man  authorize  him  to  interfere  with  a  foreign  and  inde- 
pendent jurisdiction,  or  to  usurp  the  rights  of  another?  Do 
not  the  very  words  of  the  Council,  '  because  he  has  done  all 


131  MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS. 

*  that  is  in  his  power  to  do,'  prove  that    lawful    promises 
are  to  be  fulfilled  ? 

Such  jurisconsults,  whether  Catholics  or  Protestants,  such 
as  Prenus,  Speklam,  and  others,  as  I  have  accidently  read, 
concerning  the  nature  of  safe-conducts,  lay  down  for  a  gene- 
ral rule,  that  they  are  never  granted  to  suspend  the  execu- 
tion of  the  laws.  Sakus  conductus  contra  jus  non  datur.  Ft 
were  nugatory  in  the  Emperor  Sigismund,  presumptive  heir 
to  a  kingdom,  which  Huss's  doctrine  had  changed  into  a 
theatre  of  intestine  wars,  to  grant  a  safe-conduct,  the  mean- 
ing and  sense  whereof  would  be  equivalent  to  the  following 
pass :  '  Although  you  have  set  kingdoms  in  a  blaze,  by  strik- 
ing at  the  vitals  of  temporal  authority,  and  overthrow  the 
'  established  religion  of  the  land,  yet  go  to  Constance  and 
'comeback,  without  appearing  before  your  lawful  judges, 
'  or  retracting  doctrines  which  have  caused  such  disturbances 
*  in  church  and  state.'  Safe-conducts  then  are  not  granted 
to  screen  delinquents  from  punishment,  when  legally  con- 
victed ;  much  less,  to  countenance  disobedience  to  the  laws, 
and  disorder,  by  impunity. 

The  Council  was  the  most  competent  judge  of  Huss's  doc- 
trine, in  which  he  steadfastly  persevered.  Neither  king  nor 
emperor  could  deprive  the  bishops  of  privileges  inseparably 
annexed  to  their  characters,  viz.  spiritual  jurisdiction,  and 
the  right  of  judging  doctrines.  Huss  was  degraded,  and  re- 
trenched, according  to  the  usual  formalities,  from  a  commu- 
nion from  which  he  had  separated  himself  before.  This  is 
all  the  bishops  could  have  done  ;  this  they  acknowledge  after 
the  sentence  of  Huss's  degradation  was  pronounced.  *  This 
'  sacred  synod  of  Constance,  considering  that  the  church  of 
'  Christ  has  nothing  further  that  it  can  do,  decrees  to  leave 
'John  Huss  to  the  judgment  of  the  state.'  His  execution 
was  in  consequence  of  the  imperial  laws,  enforced  by  the  civil 
magistrate,  as  the  execution  of  heretics  in  England  and  other 
Protestant  states,  has  been  in  consequence  of  the  imperial 
laws  adopted  by  such  powers.  The  Protestant  clergy,  as 
well  as  the  clergy  of  Constance,  decided  upon  points  of  doc- 
trine, and  went  no  farther. 

Thus  we  see,  that  this  superannuated  charge  of  violation 
of  faith  with  heretics,  resembles  those  nightly  spectres  which 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  135 

vanish  upon  a  nearer  approach.  We  find  nothing  in  this 
Council,  relative  to  such  a  charge,  but  a  dispute  about  a  pass 
granted  to  a  man  who  goes  to  takes  his  trial  before  judges 
whose  jurisdiction  could  not  be  superseded.  Or  if  we  ia- 
tend  to  do  justice  to  men  with  the  same  eagerness  that  we 
are  disposed  to  injure  them,  we  must  acknowledge  that  the 
fathers  of  that  Council  condemned  lies,  frauds,  perjury,  and 
those  horrors  which  Mr.  Wesley  would  fain  fix  upon  the 
Roman  Catholics.  The  foundations,  then,  on  which  Mr. 
Wesley  has  erected  his  serial  fabric,  being  once  sapped,  the 
superstructure  must  fall  of  course;  and  his  long  train  of 
false  and  unchristian  assertions  are  swept  away  as  a  spider's 
web,  before  the  wind  of  logical  rules.  From  absurd  premises 
follows  cm  absurd  conclusion. 

What  greater  absurdity  than  Mr.  Wesley's  insisting  upon 
a  general  Council's  disclaiming  a  doctrine  it  never  taught? 
,lf  Mr.  Wesley  be  so  credulous  as  to  believe  that  the  Pope 
has  horns,  we  must  convene  a  general  Council  to  declare 
that  his  forehead  is  smooth  ?  Is  it  not  sufficient  to  disclaim 
the  truth  of  the  odious  imputation,  when  the  false  creed  is 
fixed  on  us  ?  We  are  really  of  opinion,  that  whoever  be- 
lieves us  capablo  of  harbouring  such  sentiments,  is  capable 
of  putting  the  horrid  maxims  in  practice.  He  must  have 
studied  the  human  heart,  not  in  the  books  of  nature,  but  in 
Hobbes's  Leviathan  ;  and  should  curse  his  fate  that  Provi- 
dence had  been  so  unkindly  partial  to  him. 

Rousseau  declares,  that  if  he  had  been  present  at  the  re- 
surrection of  Lazarus,  he  would  not  have  believed  it.  4  The 
4  apparation,'  says  he,  4  would  have  made  a  fool  of  me,  by 
4  frightening  me  out  of  my  senses,  but  it  would  never  have 
4  made  a  convert  of  me.' 

If  a  general  Council  were  held  in  order  to  disclaim  the  ridi- 
culous and  abominable  creed  imputed  to  Roman  Catholics, 
the  sceptic,  who  gives  no  credit  to  their  doctors  and  uni- 
versities, to  the  oaths  and  declarations  of  millions,  would 
give  no  credit  to  a  convention  of  Bishops  with  the  Pope 
at  their  head. 

Let  the  appeal  be  made,  not  to  stubborn  sceptics,  but  to 
those  who  listen  to  the  voice  of  reason,  and  consult  the 
heart.     This  interior  monitor,  when  passion  and  prejudice 


136  JIISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

are  hushed  into  silence,  is  seldom  consulted  in  vain.  Let  us 
not  travel  into  Catholic  States  where  perjury  is  punished  with 
death,  and  every  argument  tending  to  prove  that  the  Pope 
can  absolve  subjects  from  oaths,  and  grant  a  dispen- 
sation to  commit  all  kinds  of  crimes,  is  confuted  with  a 
halter.  Let  us  look  nearer  home,  aitd  compare  what 
we  see  on  one  hand,  with  what  is  supposed  on  the 
other. 

We  see  a  million  and  half  of  Roman  Catholics  smarting 
under  the  most  oppressive  laws  that  the  human  heart  could 
ever  devise.  When  they  were  enacted,  our  ancestors  had  the 
lands  of  their  fathers  and  the  religion  of  their  education. 
If  perjury  had  been  an  article  of  their  belief,  they  could 
have  secured  their  inheritance,  by  taking  an  oath  of  abju- 
ration If  papal  dispensations  were,  in  their  opinion,  leni- 
tives to  an  ulcerated  conscience,  when,  or  where  could  they 
have  been  more  seasonably  applied,  than  at  that  time  and 
place,  where  the  properties  of  millions  depended  on  the 
application  ? 

If  oaths  against  conviction,  dispensations  with  perjury, 
and  anticipated  absolutions  from  future  crimes,  were  articles 
of  their  belief,  they  would  have  prevented  the  blazing  co- 
mets which  scorch  the  living,  and  spread  their  influence  to 
the  dormitories  of  the  dead,  from  kindling  in  their  native 
air ;  and  hindered  cruelty,  which  is  disarmed  in  the  tyrant's 
breast  at  sight  of  the  expiring  victim,  from  pursuing  them 
to  the  grave,  and  depriving  them  of  the  cold  comfort  of 
of  muigjliog  their  ashes  with  those  of  their  ances- 
tors.* 

Those  laws  which  have  banished  our  nobility  from  the 
Senate;  deprived  our  gentry  of  the  liberty  of  wearing  a 
sword,  either  as  a  means  of  defence  against  the  midnight 
assassin,  or  as  a  part  of  dress  in  the  open  day;  the  merchant 
of  the  power  of  realizing  the  fruits  of  his  industry,  in  ob- 
taining landed  security  for  his  money,  or  the  liberty  of  pur- 
chasing; the  lower  class  of  people  of  the  liberty  of  becom- 

*  The  peual  laws  offered  the  most  galling-  insult  to  the  Roman  Catholic  gentry,  at 
the  time  of  their  being  enacted.  Their  burying  places  were  in  the  ruins  of  old  ab- 
beys, founded  by  their  ancestors,  A  law  was  enacted,  prohibiting-  to  bury  in  those 
dreary  haunts  of  cats  and  weasels,  and  a  fine  of  ten  shillings  was  to  be  levied  on  erer.y 
person  who  assisted  at  the  funeral. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  137 

ing  common  soldiers,  mayor's  Serjeants,  or  coal-measurers, 
and  the  valiant  youth  of  serving  his  king,  and  reaping  lau- 
rels in  defence  of  his  country — these  laws  are  all  still  in 
being.  It  is  true,  to  the  honour  of  the  Irish  senate,  thev 
have  staunched  the  blood  flowing  this  long  time  past  from 
one  of  the  most  tender  veins  of  the  human  heart,  by  putting 
it  out  of  the  power  of  the  profligate  son  to  betray  and  rob  his 
tender  and  hoary  father.  But,  still  the  insidious  neighbour 
can  seize  his  neighbour's  horse ;  the  unfaithful  husband  can 
banish  his  chaste  and  virtuous  wife,  after  the  oath  pledged  if) 
presence  of  God,  at  the  nuptial  solemnity  ;  the  designing; 
villain  can  set  fire  to  his  house,  and  build  a  new  one,  at  the 
expense  of  his  Catholic  neighbours,  who  were  asleep  whilst 
he  himself  was  lighting  the  fagot.* 

Thus  like  a  running  evil,  in  a  successive  gradation,  they 
ulcerate  every  part  of  the  body ;  and,  though  the  lenity  of 
the  magistrate  is  a  kind  of  mollifying  application,  that  may 
assuage  the  sore  for  a  certain  time ;  yet  whilst  the  noxious 
humour  lurks  within  the  recess  of  the  law,  we  can  never  ex- 
pect a  radical  cure. 

'  It  is  needless  to  comment  upon  the  spirit  of  such  laws. — 
1  The  very  recital  chills  with  horror.'  So  remarks  my 
learned  and  worthy  acquaintance,  Doctor  Campbell.    *  Let  it 

*  not  be  argued,  that  these  laws  are  seldom  put  in  execution. — 

*  Is  property  to  depend  upon  the  courtesy  of  an  avaricious, 
4  malignant  neighbour !  Damocles  was,  perhaps,  safe  enough 
'under  the  suspended  sword  of  Dionysius;  but  the  appre- 
1  hension  of  danger  scared  away  those  visions  of  happiness 
'  which  he  had  seen  in  the  envied  pomp  of  tyranny. f  *  Laws,' 
says  the  President  Montesquieu,  *  which  do  all  the  mischief 
'that  can  be  done,  in  cold  blood  ;'  and  to  which  Lucretius 
might  allude  in  his  famous  Epiphonema  :  Tanium  religiopo- 
tuit  suadere  malorum !  Could  religion  be  productive  of  such 
mischief!  That  philosopher,  who  in  reading  the  epitaph  of  a 
voluptuous  monarch,  cried  out  that  it  was  better  suited  to 

*  Mr.  O'Leary  was  present  when  the  case  was  tried  in  (he  county  Court-house  of  Cork. 
He  has  likewise  seen  the  venerable  matron,  after  twenty-four  years  marriage,  banished 
fi'om  the  perjured  husband's  house,  though  it  was  proved  in  open  court,  that  for  six 
months  before  his  marriage,  he  went  to  mass.  But  the  law  requires  that  he  should 
be  a  year  and  a  day  of  the  same  religion. 

■\-  Philosophical  Survey  of  the  South  of  Ireland,  p.  251,  2. 


138  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

an  ox  than  to  a  king :  Bove  quam  rege  dignkts,  in  reading 
the  penal  code,  could  form  another  antithesis :  '  The  seal 
'that  «:ave  a  sanction  to  such  laws,  should  rather  bear 
'  the  impression  of  the  claws  of  a  lion  than  the  head  of  a 
*  queen.'* 

Such  are  the  laws  to  whose  unrelenting  rigour  we  are 
every  day  exposed.  The  disposition  of  man,  so  averse  to 
restraint,  would  soon  suggest  a  method  of  dissolving  the 
odious  chains,  which  like  those  used  by  the  Tuscan  princes, 
who  fastened  living  men  to  dead  bodies,  punish  for  an  en- 
tire century,  the  living  for  the  dead.  The  disposition  of 
man,  so  averse  to  restraint,  would  soon  shake  off  the  op- 
pressive burden,  if  the  importunate  voice  of  conscience  did 
not  silence  the  cries  of  nature,  and  intimate  to  the  Ca- 
tholic, that,  '  death  is  preferable  to  perjury.'  The  remedy 
is  in  our  own  hands,  and  we  daily  refuse  to  apply  it, 
though  a  small  bandage  could  soon  close  up  the  bleeding 
veins  of  oppression,  and  a  slight  palliative  remove  the  tem- 
poral grievances  of  which  we  complain.  The  churches  are 
open,  and  though  Mr.  Wesley  says,  that  'our  oaths  are 
'light  as  air,'  yet  one  oath  taken  against  the  conviction 
of  our  consciences,  would  level  the  fences,  and  sweep  away 
ail  the  penal  laws,  as  so  many  spiders'  webs,  to  use  his 
delicate  expression.  This  is  an  argument  which  speaks  to 
the  feelings  of  man,  and  which  no  sophistry  can  ever  refute. 
The  priests  themselves  are  interested  in  the  profanation  ;  for, 
by  entering  into  a  collusion  with  their  flocks,  and  using  their 
magic  powers  to  forgive  all  sins,  past,  present,  and  to  come, 
they  could  permit  them  to  graze  on  the  commons  of  legal 
indulgence ;  and  by  turning  them  into  a  richer  pasture,  ex- 
pect more  milk  and  wool.  Avarice  has  ever  been  the  re- 
proach of  the  sanctuary  :  it  is  recorded  in  Scripture,  that  the 
priests  of  the  old  law  used  to  take  the  best  part  of  the  victim 
to  themselves,  before  it  was  offered  to  the  God  of  Israel,  and 

*  Queen  Anne,  the  last  sovereign  of  the  Stuart  line,  who,  after  combining1  against 
her  father,  and  violating  the  articles  of  Limerick,  under  pretence  of  strengthen- 
ing- the  Protestant  religion,  gave  a  sanction  to  those  lawjs;  though  her  chief 
aim  was  to  secure  herself  against  the  claims  of  her  brother.  Thus,  religion  often 
becomes  an  engine  of  policy,  in  the  hands  of  sovereigns.  Quere  to  Civilians  -. 
Should  not  oppressive  laws  cease,  when  the  motives  that  gave  rise  to  them  subsist 
no  more? 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  139 

that  Judas  sold  our  Saviour  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver.  Mr. 
Wesley  then  must  charitably  presume,  that  no  priest  will 
forego  his  personal  interest  in  compliment  to  his  successor, 
and  as  it  is  his  interest  to  impose  upon  his  votaries,  to  slack- 
en the  rein,  and  shelter  himself  under  the  shade  of  the  laws  ; 
either  perjury  is  no  part  of  his  belief,  or  he  must  be  too  scru- 
pulous ;  which  in  Mr.  Wesley's  opinion  is  heresy  to  believe. 
In  ethics,  as  in  mathematics,  there  are  self-evident  demon- 
strations ;  no  proposition  in  Euclid  is  more  clear  than  the  fol- 
lowing :  *  A  person  who  ,  does  not  think  perjury  a  crime, 
*  would  not  forfeit  a  guinea  from  reluctance  to  an  oath.'- — 
The  Roman  Catholics  forfeit  every  privilege  rather  than  take 
an  oath  against  their  conscience. 

Are  not  they  Adam's  children  ?     Have  they  not  the  same 
sensations  of  pain  and  pleasure  as  other  men  ?     Their  vices 
and  virtues,  do  they  not  run  in  the  same  channels  with  those 
of  their  Protestant  neighbours  ?     Are  they  not  animated  with 
the  same  desires  of  glory,  allured  by  the   blandishments  of 
pleasure,  courted  by  the  charms  of  riches,  as  eager  for  the 
enjoyment  of  ease  and  opulence  ?     If  perjury  be  their  creed, 
if  their  clergy  be  endued  with  the  magic  power  of  forgiving 
not  only  present  but  future  sins,  why  do  not  they  glide  gently 
down  the  stream  of  legal  liberty,  instead  of  stemming  the 
torrent  of  oppression  ?     Why  do  not  they  qualify  themselves 
for  sitting  in  the  Senate,  and  giving  laws  to  the  land  in  con- 
cert with  their  countrymen,  instead  of  being  the  continual 
objects  of  penal  sanctions  ?     It  is,  that  they  are  diametrically 
the  reverse  of  what  they  are  represented.     Their  religion  for- 
bids them  to  sport  with  the  awful  name  of  the  Divinity. — 
They  do  not  choose  to  impose  upon  their  neighbours,  or 
themselves,  by  perjury  ;  nor  run  the  risk  of  eternal  deatli 
for  a  little  honey.     Were  it  otherwise,  in  three  weeks  time 
they  could  all  read  their  recantations,  and  be  on  a  level  with 
the  rest  of  their  fellow -subjects :  they  could  imitate  that  phi- 
losopher who  had  two  religions — one  for  himself,  and  ano- 
ther for  his  country.     Yet  the  archives  of  national  justice 
can  prove,  that  Catholics,  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  disco- 
vering against  themselves,  preferred  the  loss  of  their  estates 
to  the  guilt  of  perjury,  when  a  false  oath  could  have  secured 


140  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTs. 

them  in  their  property.  Notwithstanding  this  imputed  creed, 
.they  prefer  the  smarting  afflictions  of  the  body  to  the  sting- 
ing remorses  of  the  scul ;  and  when  worldly  prosperities 
stand  in  competition  with  conscience,  they  rather  choose  to 
be  its  martyrs  than  executioners. 

Gentlemen,  reconcile,  if  you  can,  perjurers  from  princi- 
ple, with  sufferers  from  delicacy  of  conscience,  and  I  shall 
style  you  the  children  of  the  great  Apollo.  But  are  not  the 
Catholics  a  set  of  passive  machines,  veering  at  the  breath  of 
the  Pope,  who  can  dispense  with  them  in  any  thing  ?     '  Or 

*  what  security  can  they  give  to  Protestant  governors,  whilst 

*  they  acknowledge  his  spiritual  power?'  If  this  be  any  ob- 
jection to  their  loyalty,  Catholic  kings  should  bisnish  their 
Catholic  subjects,  and  introduce  Protestants  in  their  stead — 
for,  as  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  is  the  same  all  over  the  world, 
and  that  France  and  Spain  are  more  convenient  to  the  Pope 
than  the  Britannic  islands,  he  would  have  more  machines  to 
move,  more  votaries  to  obey  his  mandates,  and  more  facility 
in  compassing  his  designs.  In  England  and  Ireland  all  the 
Protestants  would  oppose  him;  whereas  in  Catholic  king, 
doms,  if  his  power  has  such  an  unlimited  sway  over  the  con- 
science of  man,  as  Mr.  Wesley  asserts,  every  subject,  nay, 
kings  themselves,  would  be  bound  to  obey  him.  But  Ca- 
tholic subjects  know,  that  if  God  must  have  his  own,  Caesar 
must  have  his  due.  In  his  quality  of  pontiff,  they  are  ready 
to  kiss  the  Pope's  feet :  but  if  he  assumes  the  title  of  con- 
queror, they  are  ready  to  bind  his  hands.  The  very  ecclesi- 
astical benefices,  which  are  more  in  the  spiritual  line,  are  not 
at  his  disposal.  When  England  had  more  to  dread  from 
him  than  now,  a  Catholic  parliament  passed  the  statute  of 
premunire ;  the  bishops  and  mitred  abbots  preferred  their 
own  temporal  interest  to  that  of  the  Pope,  and  reserve  the 
benefices  to  themselves,  and  the  clergy  under  their  jurisdic- 
tion. Charity  begins  at  home,  and  I  do  not  believe  any  Ca- 
tholic so  divested  of  it,  as  to  prefer  fifty  pounds  a  year  un- 
der the  Pope's  government,  to  an  hundred  pounds  under  that 
of  a  Protestant  king.  Queen  Mary,  so  devoted  to  the  Pope's 
cause,  both  on  account  of  her  religion,  and  the  justice  done 
to  her  mother  by  the  inflexible  resolution  of  the  sovereign 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  141 

pontiff,  still  would  not  cede  her  temporal  rights,  nor  those  of 
her  subjects,  in  compliment  to  his  spiritual  power.  After 
the  reconciliation  of  her  kingdom  to  the  apostolical  see,  a 
statute  was  passed,  enacting,  that  the  Pope's  bulls,  briefs, 
&c.  should  be  merely  coniined  to  spirituals,  without  inter- 
fering with  the  independence  of  her  kingdom,  or  the  rights 
of  her  subjects.  The  history  of  Europe  proclaims  aloud, 
that  the  Roman  Catholics  are  not  passive  engines  in  the 
hands  of  Popes,  and  that  they  confine  his  power  within 
the  narrow  limits  of  his  spiritual  province.  They  have  often 
taken  his  cities,  and  opposed  Paul's  sword  to  Peter's  keys, 
and  silenced  the  thunders  of  the  Vatican  with  the  noise  of 
the  cannon. — They  know  that  Peter  was  a  fisherman  when 
kings  swayed  the  sceptre,  and  that  the  subsequent  grandeur 
of  his  successors,  could  never  authorize  him  to  alter  the 
primitive  institution  that  commands  subjects  to  ohey  their 
rulers,  and  to  give  Caesar  his  due. 

With  regard  to  his  spiritual  power,  you  will  be  surprised, 
gentlemen,  when  I  tell  you,  that,  from  Lodowic  Muggleton 
down  to  John  Wesley,  those  who  have  instituted  new  sects 
amongst  the  Christians,  have  assumed  more  power  than  the 
Pope  dare  to  assume  over  the   Catholics. 

They  may  add  or  diminish  :  but,  with  regard  to  the  Pope, 
the  landmarks  are  erected,  and  we  would  never  permit  him 
to  remove  them.  If  he  attempted  to  preach  up  five  sacra- 
ments instead  of  seven,  we  would  immediately  depose  him. 
Mr.  Wesley  may  alter  his  faith  as  often  as  he  pleases,  and 
prevail  on  others  to  do  the  same;  but  the  Pope  can  never 
alter  ours:  we  acknowledge  him,  indeed,  as  head  of  the 
Church,  for  every  society  must  have  a  link  of  union,  to  guard 
against  confusion  and  anarchy ;  and,  without  annexing  any 
infallibility  to  his  person,  we  acknowledge  his  title  to  prece- 
dence and  pre-eminence.  But,  in  acknowledging  him  as  the 
first  pilot  to  steer  the  vessel,  we  acknowledge  a  compass  by 
which  he  is  to  direct  his  course.  He  is  to  preserve  the  vessel, 
but  never  to  expose  it  to  shipwreck.  Any  deviation  from 
the  laws  of  God,  the  rights  of  nature,  or  the  faith  of  our 
fathers,  would  be  the  fatal  rock  on  which  the  Pope  himself 
would  split.  In  a  word,  the  Pope  is  our  first  Pastor;  he 
may   feed,    but    cannot  poison   us :    we   acknowledge   no 


112  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

power  in  him,  either  to  alter  our  faith,  or  to  corrupt  our 
morals. 

If  the  Pope's  power  were  then  rightly  understood,  his 
spiritual  supremacy  would  give  no  more  umbrage  to 
the  King  of  Great  Britain,  than  the  jurisdiction  of  a  dio- 
cesan bishop.  But  deep  rooted  prejudices  can  scarcely  be 
removed ;  and  little  can  be  expected  from  the  generality, 
when  the  learned  themselves  are  hurried  by  the  tide  of 
popular  error. 

From  want  of  rightly  understanding  the  case,  and  atten- 
tion to  the  discriminating  line  drawn  by  the  Catholics  be- 
tween the  Pope's  spiritual  and  temporal  power,  Sir  William 
Blacksione  himself  gave  into  the  snare  of  vulgar  delusion. 
This  learned  expositor  of  England's  common  law,  declares 
the  Roman -Catholics  as  well  entitled  to  every  legal  indul- 
gence as  the  other  dissenters  from  the  established  religion, 
maugre  their  real  presence,  purgatory,  confessions,  &c.  But 
still  the  Pope's  ghost  haunts  him  to  such  a  degree,  that 
he  would  fain  have  the  Catholics  abjure  his  spiritual  su- 
premacy. But  Sir  William,  who  has  exposed  himself  to 
the  censure  of  Mr.  Sheridan,  in  establishing  the  formidable 
right  of  conquest  over  Ireland,  and  to  the  animadversions 
of  the  divines,  by  declaring  that  '  an  act  of  parliament 
4  can  alter  the  religion  of  the  land,'  (as  if,  by  act  of  par- 
liament, we  should  all  become  Turks,  be  circumcised,  and 
expect  an  earthly  Paradise ;)  has  exposed  himself  to  the 
reproaches  of  every  smatterer  in  divinity,  who  could  ask 
him  :  If,  in  acknowledging  the  spiritual  jurisdiction  of  the 
bishop  of  London,  he  encroached  upon  the  privileges  of 
the  Lord  Mayor.  « 

But  in  talking  of  the  power  of  parliament  '  to  alter  the 
4  religion  of  the  land,'  Sir  William  has  argued  from  facts : 
and  in  talking  of  the  spiritual  power  of  the  Pope,  he  must 
have  argued  from  hear-say.  The  lawyer  may  be  excused 
when  he  talks  of  spiritual  powers  :  but  what  apology  can  be 
pleaded  by  the  apostle  and  divine,  who,  like  Tristram 
Shandy's  priest,  baptizes  the  child  before  he  is  born,  and 
grants  Popes  and  priests  the  power  of  forgiving  all  sins,  not 
only  past  and  present,  but  sins  to  come;  this  Mr.  Wesley 
asserts  :  it  is  surprising  magic  that  forgives  now,  the  sin  that 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  143 

is  to  be  committed  a  hundred  years  hence  :  let  no  one  de- 
prive Mr.  Wesley  of  the  glory  of  the  invention.  Past  sins, 
in  our  belief,  can  be  forgiven  by  Popes  and  priests,  not  as 
primary  agents,  but  as  subordinate  instruments  in  the  hands 
of  the  Divinity  ;  not  according  to  the  absolute  will  of  the 
priest,  but  according  to  the  dispositions  of  the  penitent,  and 
the  clauses  of  the  covenant  of  mercy,  which  the  priest  can 
neither  alter  nor  disannul. 

The  dark  recesses  of  the  criminal  consciences  must  be 
searched.  The  monster  must  be  stifled  in  the  heart  that 
gave  it  birth.  A  sincere  sorrow  for  past  guilt,  a  firm 
resolution  to  avoid  future  lapses,  and  every  possible  atone- 
ment to  the  injured  Deity,  and  the  injured  neighbour, 
are  the  previous  and  indispensable  requisites.  Take  away 
any  of  the  three  conditions,  and  the  Pope's  and  priest's 
absolution  are  but  empty  sounds ;  the  keys  of  the  church 
rattle  in  vain,  they  are  no  more  than  the  mutterings  of 
sorcerers,  or  words  of  incantation  pronounced  over  a  dead 
body,  without  ever  imparting  to  it  the  genial  heat  of  ani- 
mation and  vitality. — Popes  nor  priests  can  do  no  more 
than  God  himself — and  the  Scriptures  declare,  that  God 
will  never  forgive  the  sinner,  without  sorrow  and  repentance. 
And  the  schoolmen  dispute,  whether,  by  an  absolute  power, 
he  could  raise  to  the  beatific  vision,  a  soul  polluted  with  the 
defilements  of  guilt.  If  then  the  priest's  absolution  be 
any  plea  against  Roman  Catholics,  it  may  as  well  be  said, 
that  the  promise  of  the  Most  High,  '  to  pardon  the  re- 
'pentant  sinner,  although  his  sins  were  as  red  as  scarlet,' 
encourages  men  to  commit  sin ;  or  that  a  man  may 
take  an  oath  contrary  to  his  conscience,  under  the  idea, 
that  a  subsequent  repentance  will  gain  forgiveness  and 
pardon.  # 

'  But  is  it  not  intolerable  presumption  in  man  to  arrogate 
4  such  power  ?'  Be  it  so ;  I  am  no  apologist  when  I  write  in 
a  public  paper  :  controversy  I  leave  to  the  schools.  If  I  make 
my  confession  to  a  priest,  what  is  it  to  my  neighbour?  So- 
ciety will  gain  by  the  pretended  superstition ;  for  the  most 
immortal  Catholics  are  those  who  seldom  or  never  frequent 
the  sacraments.  I  look  on  the  pretended  conferences  ot  Numa 
Pompilius  with  the  nymph  Egeria,  as  a  mere  fiction,  devised 

u 


144  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

by  that  political  prince.  Yet  I  admire  the  wisdom  of  the 
legislator,  v. ho  introduced  a  plan  of  softening  the  savage 
manners  of  his  uncivilized  subjects,  and  smoothing  the  aspe- 
rity of  stubborn  nature  by  religious  awe.  Those  who  are 
unacquainted  with  the  nature  of  confession,  may  consider 
it  as  priest-craft,  yet  neither  master  nor  landlord  will  ever 
lose  by  the  imposture  ;  when  their  servants  and  tenants  kneel 
to  a  priest,  whose  duty  is  to  revive  in  their  minds  the  notions 
of  probity  and  virtue.  Thus,  the  wisest  of  the  Protestant 
churches  have  never  discountenanced  confession :  the  form 
of  absolution,  and  the  previous  dispositions  required  on  the 
part  of  the  penitent  are  set  down  at  large  in  the  liturgy  ;  and 
as  to  the  power  of  forgiving  sins,  granted  to  the  ministers  of 
religion,  express  mention  is  made  of  it  in  the  Scriptures.  Mr. 
Wesley  must  acknowledge  the  power,  whether  it  consists  in 
the  priestly  absolution,  or  in  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel, 
or  '  in  pious  canticles,  sung  with  a  skilful  tongue  and 
!  harmonious  voice,  lifting  the  rising  soul  and  plunging  it  into 
1  a  mystical  slumber,  as  soothing  and  soft  as  the  balm  of 
'Gilead.'* 

Such  Christians  as  acknowledge  original  sin,  and  the  vir- 
tue of  baptism  to  cancel  the  unavoidable  debt,  must  acknow- 
ledge that  the  minister  of  religion  effaces  the  stain  by  ap- 
pKing  the  elements.  If  the  Catholics  believe  that  by  the 
institution  of  Christ,  the  minister  of  religion  can  forgive  sins  ; 
they  are  convinced  at  the  same  time,  that  he  is  no  more  than 
a  subordinate  agent,  who  derives  his  power  from  a  superior 
being,  in  absolving  the  adult,  as  he  derives  his  power  from 
the  same  source,  when  he  purifies  the  soul  of  the  infant.  I 
know  full  well  that  God  could  change  the  heart  of  man,  and 
forgive  sins  in  young  and  old,  without  the  interposition  of 
a  human  being.  The  prophet,  who  was  consulted  by  two 
Jewish  kings,  and  before  he  would  give  an  answer,  called  for 
a  harp,  could  have  received  the  prophetic  inspiration,  with- 
out touching  the  strings  of  the  tuneful  lyre.  Christ  could 
have  restored  the  blind  man  to  his  sight  without  applying 

*  See  an  abridgment  of  Wcsloy's  journal,  where  he  compares  the  impressions  lie 
made  on  his  hearers  to  the  balm  of  Gilead.  As  far  as  I  can  recollect,  he  relates 
in  his  huge  journal  a  surprising  hi>tory  of  one  of  his  acquaintances,  who  fell 
into  a  pious  slumber,  which  deserves  to  be  recorded  in  the  History  of  the  Seveu 
Sleepers, 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  145 

the  mud  to  his  eyes,  and  converted  the  world  without  expos- 
ing his  apostles  to  martyrdom.  But  am  I  to  bring  him  to  an 
account  for  using  intermediate  agents;  or  what  I  think  to  be 
an  institution  of  the  Divinity,  is  it  not  my  duty  to  abide  by 
it?  Happy  those  who  can  save  themselves  without  the  assist- 
ance of  any  other!  Thrice  happy  Mr.  Wesley!  who  is  al- 
ready registered  in  the  book  of  life,  and  empowered  to  grant 
inamissable  security  to  others  for  the  anticipated  enjoyment 
of  eternal  bliss.  He  can  sum  up  the  number  of  the  holy 
souls  who  have  climbed  up  the  steps  of  the  mystical  ladder, 
and  on  the  highest  step  of  all,  as  on  the  ramparts  of  an  im- 
pregnable fortress,  reckon  so  many  souls  confirmed  in  a  state 
of  inamissable  sanctity;*  whilst  I  am  so  miserable  as  not  to 
know  whether  I  am  worthy  of  love  or  hatred,  and  have  mil- 
lions of  times  more  reason  than  St.  Paul  to  solicit  the  pravt is 
of  my  fellow-christians,  lest  that  in  praying  for  others,  /  my- 
self may  become  a  reprobate. 

In  our  communion,  Gentlemen,  we  never  hold  forth  our 
confessions  and  absolutions  as  licences  for  guilt,  but  as  curbs 
to  the  passions.  Our  priests  make  their  confession,  as  well 
as  the  laity  ;  for  no  priest  can  absolve  himself,  nor  flatter 
himself  with  impunity  in  committing  present  or  future 
crimes. — Our  directors  point  out  the  path  to  the  wayfaring 
pilgrim,  between  the  two  extremes  01  despair  and  presvm  >- 
tion:  to  guard  against  the  first,  the  gates  of  penance  me 
thrown  open,  as  so  many  avenues  that  lead  to  mercy:  to 
guard  against  the  second,  the  dread  of  God's  judgments,  the 
uncertainty  of  the  last  hour,  the  abuses  of  God's  graces, 
which,  if  neglected,  swell  the  long  list  of  crimes  and  punish- 
ments, are  held  forth  in  all  their  terrors. 

We  represent  to  the  guilty  conscience,  sinking  under  a 
weight  of  anxieties  and  crimes,  the  penitent  thief  crying  out 
for  mercy,  and  obtaining  pardon.  We  represent  to  the 
obstinate  and  presumptuous    sinner,  the   impenitent   thi<  f, 

*  See  Wesley's  journal,  where  he  declares,  that  on  his  visitation,  he  met  so  many 
sanctified,  so  many  justified,  and  so  many  confirmed  in  love.  Qui  potest  capiat  I  can- 
not comprehend  this  mystical  divinity.  By  confirmation  in  love  he  must  mean,  that 
whoever  believes  himself  once  arrived  at  that  happy  state,  can  sin  no  more.  I  am  glad 
to  see  a  fellow-creature  confirmed  in  the  love  of  God.  Bui  I  am  sorry  to  find  souse  go 
ill-confirmed  in  the  love  of  their  neighbour,  as  to  tell  half  Europe  to  their  facts,  that 
they  are  perjurers,  and  to  apologize  for  a  rabble,  who  set  fire  to  their  neighbours 
houses.     This  is  what  we  call  an  ardent,  nr  bcrmxg  love. 


146  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

threatening  reprobation.  We  know,  that  whilst  the  serpent 
is  raised  up  in  the  wilderness,  no  wound  is  incurable :  we 
know,  on  the  other  hand,  that,  when  criminal  cities  had  filled 
up  the  measure  of  their  iniquity,  in  vain  did  Abraham  lift  up 
his  hands  to  heaven,  to  solicit  their  pardon.  If  Ave  place  be- 
tween the  Judge  and  the  sinner  a  great  Mediator ;  though 
the  Mediator  and  Judge  be  the  same,  yet  we  place  between 
the  Mediator  and  sinner  an  awful  Judge.  We  earnesly  re- 
commend the  frequent  use  of  confession,  because  man  is  so 
frail  that  he  stands  in  frequent  need  of  it.  But  still  we  recom- 
mend it,  not  as  loose  reins  to  humour  the  sinner's  passions, 
but  as  a  stiff  bridle  to  check  their  sallies.  We  never  encou- 
rage our  penitents  to  new  disorders,  but  inspire  them  with 
detestation  for  former  guilt,  and  fear  of  swelling  the  score ; 
for  we  know  the  danger  of  affronting  mercy  by  new  crimes, 
but  cannot  know  the  fatal  point  where  paternal  goodness  is 
limited.  Thus  we  lead  our  penitents  in  the  intermediate 
path  between  despair  and  presumption,  by  the  delicate  clue 
of  hope  and  fear,  until  they  reach  the  critical  term,  where 
the  soul,  after  bursting  the  chains  of  its  earthly  prison,  takes 
its  flight  into  the  vast  region  of  spirits;  and  even  when  ar- 
raigned before  the  judgment  seat,  we  tremble  for  its  destiny. 
Such,  Gentlemen,  is  the  nature  of  confession,  whether  you 
consider  it  in  a  useful  or  abusive  light. 

Had  Mr.  Wesley,  who,  after  publishing  twenty-six  vo- 
lumes, knows  every  thing,  even  the  language  of  birds,  known 
its  nature,  he  would  not  have  adduced  it  as  an  argument  in 
justification  of  intolerance,  but  rather  left  the  imputed  power 
of  forgiving  all  kinds  of  sin,  past,  present,  and  to  come,  as  a 
flower  of  rhetoric  to  grace  the  garden  of  the  Cynics.  Away 
then  with  his  priestly  absolutions  and  dispensing  powers. — 
He  assumes  more  power  than  any  priest  could  pretend  to. 
Away  with  violation  of  faith  with  heretics:  we  acknow- 
ledge no  heresy  in  the  duties  of  social  life,  or  the  obligations 
of  Christian  virtues. 

Such,  Gentlemen,  arc  the  principles  of  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics, they  are  quite  the  reverse  of  Mr.  Wesley's  charges. — 
Let  the  impartial  public  decide,  whether  a  set  of  perjurers, 
authorised  to  commit  all  kinds  of  crimes  with  impunity, 
(such  as  the  Roman  Catholics  are  painted)  would  suffer  one 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  147 

week  on  the  score  of  conscience  ?  In  our  faith  we  follow 
the  maxim  of  St.  James,  4  Whoever  transgresses  the  law  in 
*  one  point,  is  guilty  of  all.'  The  same  rule  holds  good  in 
moral ;  in  allowing  that  a  man  is  bad  in  committing  one 
crime,  we  do  not  allow  that  he  is  guiltless  in  committing  ano- 
ther. The  sacrifice  must  be  entire;  and  grace  never  sanc- 
tifies a  divided  victory.  The  fabric  of  our  religion  is  so 
closely  cemented — the  links  of  the  chain  which  unites  all 
the  articles  of  our  faith,  are  so  fastened  within  each  other, 
that  if  you  take  off  one  of  the  links,  or  loosen  a  stone  in  the 
edifice,  the  whole  system  is  entirely  destroyed.  If  then  all 
the  horrors  fixed  upon  us  by  the  dark  pencil  of  misrepresen- 
tation, be  articles  of  our  belief,  when  we  disclaim  them  upon 
oath,  we  are  real  heretics,  and  as  well  entitled  to  every 
legal  indulgence,  as  those  who  go  to  church,  and  swear 
against  Transubstantiation. 

We  admire  the  integrity  of  Regulus,  who  suffered  the 
most  exquisite  tortures,  rather  than  violate  an  oath  given  to 
his  enemies.  In  the  administration  of  distributive  justice, 
the  magistrate  must  give  credit  to  the  Heathen,  who  swears 
by  his  false  gods,  to  the  Jew,  who  swears  by  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  to  the  Turk,  who  swears  by  the  Koran.  In  cases 
of  life  and  property,  he  gives  credit  to  the  oath  of  a  Roman 
Catholic,  whether  he  appears  as  a  witness  or  juror.  In 
giving  no  credit  to  the  oaths  of  Roman  Catholics,  when 
they  disclaim  perjury,  dispensations  for  frauds,  rebellion, 
treachery,  &c.  he  betrays  his  judgment,  and  insults  humanity. 
But,  if  judgment  has  been  ever  betrayed,  or  humanity  in- 
sulted, they  are  now  betrayed  and  insulted  by  those  per- 
sons who  compose  what  they  call  the  Protestant  Asso- 
ciations, of  whom  Mr.  Wesley  is  become  the  apologist. 
In  taking  up  the  pen  to  conclude  this  letter,  I  received  their 
Appeal  to  the  People  of  Great  Britain,  printed  in  London  by 
J.  W.  Pasham. 

Mr.  Wesley,  who  has  abridged  his  own  journal  to  give  it  a 
greater  circulation,  has  abridged  this  six-penny  pamphlet,  in 
his  first  letter.  In  the  beginning  of  the  American  war,  he 
published  his  'Calm  Address,'  in  order  to  unite  the  colonies 
to  the  mother  country.  The  '  balm  of  Gilcad'  proving  inef- 
fectual beyond  the  Atlantic,  he  now  has  recourse  to  caustic* 


148  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

at  home.  Three  years  ago  he  intended  to  unite  us :  now 
he  intends  to  divide  us.  Thus  we  find  Penelope's  web  in 
his  religious  looms  :  what  he  wove  three  years  ago,  he  now 
unraveis. 

In  this  '  Appeal,'  on  which  he  passes  such  encomiums, 
and  the  design  whereof  he  declares  to  be  '  benevolent,'  you 
can  perceive  the  dormant  seeds  of  antiquated  fanaticism 
sprouting  anew,  and  vegetating  into  religious,  frenzy,  which 
has  deluged  the  earth  with  an  ocean  of  calamities,  and  which 
would  give  heathen  princes  room  to  glory,  that  the  Gospel 
has  never  been  preached  in  their  dominions.  An  apothe- 
cary's shop  has  never  been  stocked  with  more  drugs,  than 
this  '  Appeal'  is  stocked  with  massacres.  They  have  inserted 
in  it,  the  bull,  '  In  Ccena  Domini,'  which  has  never  been  re- 
ceived in  any  Catholic  kingdom;  and  from  an  old  book, 
which  was  foisted  on  the  public  in  the  beginning  of  the 
Reformation,  as  containing  the  fees  of  the  Roman  chancery, 
they  conclude,  that  '  a  Roman  Catholic  can  sleep  with  a 
1  woman  in  a  church,  and  commit  there  other  enormities,  by 
4  paying  nine  shillings ;'  and  that  4  he  may  murder  a  man, 
*  and  commit  incest,*  on  paying  seven  shillings  and  six- 
4  pence,'  though  shillings  and  six-pences  are  English  coins, 
not  current  in  Italy ;  and  in  Catholic  countries,  the  murderer 
expires  on  the  wheel,  and  whoever  commits  incest,  or  pro- 
fanes the  churches  by  carnal  sins,  is  burnt  at  the  stake. 
What  is  more  surprising,  Gentlemen,  these  new  apostles  of 
the  Gordonian  Association,  who,  to  use  the  words  of  our  old 
friend,  Hudibras, 

'  Their  holy  faith  do  found  upon 
'  The  sacred  text  of  pike  and  gun.' 

imagine  that  they  are  delegates  of  heaven  for  the  salvation  of 
souls :  their  hands  do  not  brandish  the  glittering  spear  on 
the  American  plains,  where  d'Estaing  and  Prevost  dispute 
the  laurel;  but,  like  Samuel,  deploring  the  loss  of  Saul,  their 
eyes  are  bathed  in  tears,  and  their  '  bowels  yearn  for  mil- 
'  lions  of  spirits  that  have  no  existence  but  in  the  prescience 
'  of  God,'  who  can  pity  an  error,  and  forgive  it,  and  who  is 

more  concerned  in  their  salvation,  than  Lord  G G 

or  Mr.  Wesley. 

*  Sen  the  "Appeal  from  the  Protestant  Associations,"  p.  18. — Printed  by  Pasham. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  149 

I  am  afraid,  Gentlemen,  that  you  mind  your  own  souls 
and  bodies  more  than  you  mind  those  of  others.  To  rouse 
you  from  your  spiritual  lethargy,  and  inflame  you  with  some 
sparks  of  love  for  your  neighbour,  I  send  you  a  piece  of  a 
sermon  taken  from  the   'Appeal  of  the  Associations.' 

After  deploring  the  '  loss  of  millions  of  common  people, 
1  who  are  prohibited  from  reading  the  scriptures,'  (though  it 
were  charity  to  teach  them  first  how  to  spell,)  'and  who  have 

*  souls  as  infinite,  in  value  and  duration,  as  the  proudest  pre- 

*  lates.  or  highest  monarcha  upon  earth,' — they  go  on:  '  to 

*  tolerate  Popery,  is  to  be  instrumental  to  the  perdition  of 

*  immortal  souls  now  existing,  and  of  millions  of  spirits  that 

*  at  present  have  no  existence  but  in  the  prescience  of  God  ; 

*  and  is  the  direct  way  to  provoke  the  vengeance  of  an  holy 

*  and  jealous  God,  to  bring  down  destruction  on  our  fleets 
'  and  armies.'*  I  really  imagined  that  the  Protestant  asso- 
ciations were  not  so  cruel  as  to  refuse  me  mercy,  and  exclude 
me  from  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  if  I  lead  an  honest,  sober, 
and  virtuous  life.  I  am  convinced,  that  several  of  Admiral 
Rodney's  sailors  are  Roman  Catholics,  and  that  the  bullets 
which  told  so  ivell,  in  mauling  poor  Langara,  were  fired  by 
hands  that  crossed  a  Popish  forehead.  Oliver  Cromwell, 
seeking  the  Lord,  and  preaching  upon  the  Sabbath-day,  in  a 
leather  breeches  and  buff  waistcoat,  with  his  trusty  sabre  by 
his  side,f  did  not  scruple  to  enter  into  a  confederacy  with 
Cardinal  Mazarini,  against  the  Spaniards :  it  was  equal  to 
England  which  of  the  two  was  foremost  in  the  breach,  the 
French  Dragoon  with  his  whiskers,  after  saying  Hail  Mary, 
or  the  Round-head  with  his  leather  cap,  after  groaning  in  tlie 
spirit.     Spain  lost  Dunkirk,  and  England  triumphed. 

King  William,  who,  to  his  honour,  could  never  be  pre- 
vailed on  to  violate  the  articles  of  Limerick,  had  six  thou- 
sand Roman  Catholics  in  his  army,  when  he  fought  the  bat 
tie  of  the  Boyne  ;  and  the  Catholics  and  Protestants  of  Swit- 
zerland  maintain  their  independence  against  all  the  powers 
of  the  Continent,  in  consequence  of  their  union.  But  the 
Protestant  Association,  like  Ezekiel,  have  wallowed  a  book 

*  See  the  "  Appeal  from  the  Protestant  Associations,"  page  18,  and  cry  out  Qbon«  ! 
•bone !  obone  ! 

+  See  Oreg-orio  Leti,  in  hits  Life  of  Cromwell. 


150  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

in  which  are  written  verses,  and  lamentations,  and  woe !  Al- 
ready their  luminous  souls,  enlightened  by  the  prophetic  spi- 
rit, see  future  times  unlocking-  their  distant  gates,  and  pour- 
ing forth  millions  of  monsters ;  and  from  a  desire  to  procure 
the  salvation  of  Adam's  children,  it  is  to  be  dreaded,  that,  at 
long  run,  they  will  imitate  the  holy  fanatics  of  Denmark,  who, 
in  order  to  procure  heaven  for  young  infants,  after  being  bap- 
tized, used  to  slaughter  them  in  their  cradles. 


AN 


HUMBLE  REMONSTRANCE 


TO  THE 


SCOTCH  AND  ENGLISH  INQUISITORS, 

By  way  of  an  Apostrophe, 

Gentlemen, 

As  a  colour  to  your  disorderly  and  unwarrantable  pro- 
ceedings, you  impose  on  the  ignorant  by  your  cant  words  of 
violation  of  faith  with  heretics*  Like  Boileau's  heroes,  you 
are  ransacking  old  books,  canvassing  legends  of  exaggerated 
massacres,*  and  like  scholars,  who,  after  repeating  their  les- 
son, fling  about  the  bones  and  skulls  piled  up  in  charnel 
houses,  you  haunt  the  living  with  the  images  of  the  dead. — * 
Modern  philosophy  proves  the  existence  of  colours  in  the 
eye,  but  not  in  exterior  objects  ;  what  is  true  in  the  physical 
world,  is  more  so  in  your  system  of  ethics — the  purple  hue 
and  black  dye  in  which  you  would  fain  misrepresent  us  to 
our  king  and  the  public,  are  the  result  of  your  organs ;  and 

*  In  their  Appeal  they  relate  that  a  hundred  thousand  Protestants  were  massacred  in 
1641  ;  at  that  time  there  were  thirty  Catholics  for  every  Protestant,  and  a  hundred  es- 
caped for  every  single  Protestaut  that  perished  Let  now  a  balance  be  struck,  and  the 
numbers  of  inhabitants  calculated,  and  Ireland  must  have  been  bHt  one  lai^e  city,  as 
crowded  as  the  streets  of  Rome,  in  the  times  of  Marius  and  Sylla.  This  massacre, 
which  should  be  effaced  from  the  records  of  the  nation,  as  well  as  from  the  memory  of 
man,  was  begun  by  a  fanatical  soldiery,  who  intended  to  extirpate  the  Pa  is's  and  uia- 
lignants.  Whoever  has  a  mind  to  be  informed  about  this  massacre,  may  read  Doctor 
Warner,  Mr.  Brooke's  Trial  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  Doctor  lurry's  Historical  Me- 
moirs, and  his  History  of  the  Civil  Wars  of  Ireland.  Bat  whoev  r  has  a  mind  to  be  led 
astray,  let  him  read  Sir  John  Temple's  (Secretary  to  Ireton)  stupid  legend.  TJie  Ap- 
peal of  the  Protestant  Associations — and  Hume's  theatrical  Description,  who,  neverthe- 
less, reduces  greatly  the  number,  which  could  never  amount  to  five  or  six  thousand  — 
lie  relates,  that  in  hatred  to  the  English,  the  Irish  used  to  wound  their  cows,  and 
in  this  torturing  situation  turn  them  into  the  woods  to  prolong  their  sofieiings.  In  n;y 
opinion,  under  such  a  government  as  was  ihen,  they  wanted  mine  to  eat  them.  An  ;  I 
am  sorry  that  the  gravity  of  the  Historian  has  permitted  Mr.  Hume  to  rank  cows  amongst 

the  MAUTY8S  OF  RELIGION. 


152  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

the  abortives  you  lay  at  our  doors,  derive  their  existence  from 
yourselves.  You  would  fain  deprive  us  of  the  rights  of 
mankind,  for  crimes  we  never  committed  ;  for  thoughts 
which  we  disclaim,  and  whereof  the  Scrutinizer  and  Searcher 
of  hearts  is  the  only  competent  judge.  Thus  you  imitate  the 
tyrant,  who  put  an  inoffensive  citizen  to  death,  because  in 
his  uneasy  slumbers,  disturbed  by  the  guilt  of  injuries  of- 
fered to  others,  he  dreamt  that  he  was  cutting  his  throat. 
Our  actions  are  the  best  exponents  of  our  sentiments  :  our 
conduct  is  peaceable  ;  but,  as  for  you,  your  actions  and  con- 
duct betray  you,  as  the  roaring,  and  impression  of  his  claws, 
betray  the  lion.  And  woe  to  the  game  that  is  unprotected 
by  the  keeper !  in  an  enlightened  age,  when  the  cheerful 
eyes  of  philosophy  and  religion  cannot  bear  the  sight  of 
frantic  fanaticism,  banished  from  all  quarters  of  Europe,  it 
found  shelter  among  you,  with  its  distorted  features,  and  nu- 
merous train  of  calamities  and  evils.  Generous  hosts  !  and 
worthy  of  such  a  guest,  you  sheltered,  you  warmed,  you 
gave  new  life,  to  a  refugee  entitled  to  your  patronage.  And 
as  a  prodigal  child,  thriving  ill  in  foreign  countries,  you 
received  with  the  arms  of  a  tender  parent,  you  clad  him  in 
his  first  robes,  you  killed  a  fat  calf,  which  the  burning  rafters 
of  your  neighbours' houses  have  roasted,  and  at  his  recep- 
tion the  symphony  of  pious  raptures  was  heard  in  your 
streets. 

Whilst,  in  Ireland,  the  ministers  of  religion,  in  conformity 
to  the  Gospel  rule,  were  preaching  love  and  benevolence ; 
whilst  in  Ireland  sixty  thousand  armed  Protestants,  without 
any  controul,  but  the  great  principles  of  honour  and  valour, 
enemy  to  degenerate  cruelty,  were  protecting  the  peaceable 
citizen  and  defenceless  cottager,  without  any  distinction  of 
sects  or  parties  ;  whilst  the  Irish  Volunteers  were  setting  to 
the  world  the  rare  example  of  armed  legions,  without  the  se- 
vere subordination  of  military  discipline,  behaving  with  that 
noble  decorum  which  precludes  complaints,  and  attracts  ad- 
miration, your  pulpits  resounded  with  the  harsh  language  of 
the  savage  leader  haranguing  his  warriors,  and  throwing 
down  the  hatchet  as  a  signal  of  destruction  to  the  neighbour- 
ing tribes.  Some  of  your  women,  divested  of  tenderness  and 
pity,  so  peculiar  to  the  fair  and  delicate  sex,  reviving  in  their 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  153 

persons  the  savage  sternness  of  the  Spartan  matrons  urging 
on  their  sons  to  battle,  rejoiced  in  the  open  day  on  seeing 
their  neighbours'  houses  in  a  blaze,  and  blessed  God  that 
they  lived  to  see  the  day  when  Popish  abominations  were 
purified  with  fire.  One  should  imagine,  that  such  of  you 
as  petitioned  the  king  and  parliament  against  granting  a  free 
trade  to  Ireland,  should  rest  satisfied,  without  petitioning 
against  your  inoffensive  neighbours.  If  you  glory  in  the 
purity  of  your  religion,  and  in  treading  in  the  steps  of  its 
Author,  treat  us  as  Christ  himself  would  treat  us,  if  he  were 
on  earth.  He  deprived  no  man  of  his  property,  nor  of  the 
indulgence  and  protection  of  the  laws.  If  you  glory  in  the 
purity  of  the  Christian  religion,  call  to  mind  that  it  suggests 
humility,  and  deference  to  people  of  superior  power  and 
judgment.  Your  king,  your  peers,  and  your  commons,  pre 
deemed  the  first  in  dignity  and  wisdom;  but  I  forgot  that 
you  are  well  versed  in  the  bible,  which  says,  fc  he  that  is  first 
4  amongst  you,  let  him  be  the  last.'  The  Scrinture  must 
be  fulfilled  :  take  then  the  lead,  and  force  them  to  trample 
on  their  own  laws,  and  to  banish  their  subjects. 

Mention  no  longer  4  violation  of  faith  with  heretics.' 
You  violate  all  the  laws  of  civil  society;  in  dissolving  the 
ties  of  friendship,  and  pointing  out  your  fellow-subjects  as 
the  victims  of  legal  severity,  you  split  and  rend  the  na- 
tion: you  weaken  'Jw  power,  and  trespass  upon  the  re- 
spect due  to  your  rulers,  whom,  instead  of  being  the  fathers 
of  their  people  you  would  fain  force  to  become  the  heads 
of  factions. 

You  violate  the  sacred  rights  of  nature ;  her  bountiful 
Author  declares,  that  '  he  makes  his  sun  shine  on  the  good 
'  and  bad.'  The  light  of  the  sun,  the  brilliancy  of  the  stars, 
the  sweetness  of  the  fruit,  the  balsamic  effluvia  of  flowers, 
are  dispensed  with  a  liberal  hand  to  the  Heathen  and  Idola- 
ter. Must  you  deprive  your  neighbours  of  gifts  common  to 
all  Adam's  children,  because  they  stick  to  a  religion  which 
all  your  forefathers  professed,  and  which,  if  wrong,  can  hurt 
no  man  but  themselves? 

In  vain  do  you  attempt  to  impose  upon  the  public,  with 
extracts  and  spurious  canons,  obsolete  decrees,  patches  of 
councils,  and  legends  of  massacres,  in  order  to  fix  a  creed  on 

o  7 


154  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

us.  The  world  knows  that  Roman  Catholics  sway  the 
sceptre  of  authority  in  kingdoms  and  republics.  The  very 
nature  then  of  civil  society  is  a  manifest  contradiction  to  the 
creed  you  impute  to  us:  for,  if  we  were  no  more  than  machines 
veering  at  the  breath  of  Popes  and  Priests,  whom  neither 
conscience,  religion,  the  sacred  ties  of  an  oath,  nor  the  fear 
of  God's  judgment,  can  restrain,  patentees  of  guilt,  and  sure 
of  impunity,  we  could  not  form  a  society  for  the  space  of  one 
year :  for,  in  such  a  society,  the  notions  of  vice  and  virtue 
would  be  confounded  ;  the  blackest  crimes  and  the  purest 
virtue  reduced  to  the  same  level;  the  descipline  of  morals 
destroyed  ;  the  harmony  of  the  body  politic  dissolved ;  the 
brother  armed  against  the  brother;  and  if,  by  a  kind  of 
miracle,  in  such  a  cursed  number  of  men,  a  second  Abel 
could  be  found,  the  earth  would  soon  groan  with  the  cries  of 
his  blood.  If  divines  have  attempted  to  demonstrate  the 
existence  of  God  from  the  nature  of  civil  society,  the  very 
nature  of  civil  society  demonstrates  the  falsehood  of  the 
creed  with  which  you  compliment  us.  And,  if  the  gloomy 
plan  of  such  a  horrid  republic  pleases  your  imaginations,  go 
and  lay  the  foundations  of  it  in  some  distant  part  of  the 
earth.  Be  yourselves  its  members  and  governors,  for  no 
Christian  could  live  there. 

When  the  delicate  pencils  of  the  Gibbons,  Reynolds,  and 
Marmontels,  will  paint  the  political  scenery  of  the  eighteenth 
century — when  on  the  extensive  canvass,  they  will  represent 
the  gloom  of  long-reigning  prejudice  scattering,  as  the  clouds 
of  night,  at  the  approach  of  the  rising  sun — when  they  will 
paint  the  poniard,  drenched  in  human  blood,  snatched  from 
the  hand  of  stern  persecution — the  French  praying  in  concert 
with  the  American — the  Americans  invited  into  Russia — the 
order  of  military  merit  established  in  favour  of  Protestants, 
in  the  palace  of  a  Catholic  King- — Ireland  rising  from  the 
sea,  covered  with  her  Fabii  and  Scipios,  pointing  their  spears 
to  distant  shores,  and  holding  forth  the  olive  and  sheaf  of 
corn  to  their  neighbours  of  all  denominations^ — when  they 
will  contrast  the  present  to  former  times< — shew  the  happy 
result  of  a  change  of  system,  and  prove  that  the  world  is  re- 
fined— You,  painted  in  as  frightful  attitudes  as  the  group  of 
figures  in  Raphael's  Judgment,  with  stern  fanaticism  in  your 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  1 5£ 

countenances,  a  bible  in  one  hand  and  a  fagot  in  the  other — 
you,  I  say,  will  be  an  exception  to  the  general  rule  :  the 
world  will  read  with  surprise,  that,  in  seventeen  hundred  and 
eighty,  there  have  been  fanatics  in  England  and  Scotland, 
that  gave  birth  to  so  many  illustrious  writers.  Your  trans- 
actions shall  be  recorded  in  the  appendix  to  the  history  of 
Jack  Straw  and  Wat  Tiler;  and  your  chaplains  and 
apologies  shall  be  ranked  with  James  Nailer  and  Hugh 
Peters. 

And  thus.  Gentlemen,  I  finish  my  Apostrophe. 

Should  Mr.  Wesley,  or  any  of  his  associators,  think  it 
worth  their  while  to  make  any  remarks  on  these  letters,  they 
cannot  justly  expect  a  rejoinder.  They  have  started  forth 
the  unprovoked  aggressors ;  and,  not  satisfied  with  at- 
tempting to  deprive  the  Roman  Catholics  of  their  rights 
as  subjects,  they  have  slandered  and  aspersed  their  cha- 
racters. 1  am  no  stranger  to  the  ground  on  which  they 
will  attack  me :  either  the  rusty  weapons  of  old  councils, 
or  a  catalogue  of  old  massacres,  will  be  drawn  out  of  their 
mouldering  arsenals:  arms  as  ill  suited  to  the  eighteenth 
century,  as  Saul's  helme'"  was  to  David's  head.  1  will  be 
attacked  with  the  Council  of  Lateran,  the  wars  of  the  Al- 
bigenses,  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  &c.  I  am  a 
Christian,  and  deny  the  transmigration  of  souls :  I  am 
nowise  concerned  in  past  transactions,  or  if  my  religion 
be  charged  with  them,  I  have  in  my  hands  the  cruel  arms 
of  retaliation : — 

I  shall  divide  the  charge  into  two  branches — barbarous 
actions  and  barbarous  doctrine.  If  Mr.  Wesley  reckons  all 
those  who  are  not,  or  have  not  been,  in  communion  with  the 
see  of  Rome,  in  the  number  of  heretics,  and  himself  amongst 
them,  as  doubtless  he  does,  I  shall  then  lay  at  his  door,  all 
the  abominable  and  seditious  doctrines  taught  by  those  whom 
he  styles  heretics,  from  the  time  of  Simon  the  Magician,  down 
to  our  days — the  impurities  of  the  Gnostics;  the  enchant- 
ments of  the  Ophite-  ;  the  perjury  and  frauds  of  the  Priscil- 
lianists  ;  the  errors  of  the  Albigenses,  and  millions  besides. 
If,  from  these  distant  times,  I  make  a  transition  to  a  nearer 


156  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

sera,  I  shall  prove  to  him,  from  the  works,  not  only  of  insig- 
nificant writers  of  the  reformed  religion,  but  of  the  very- 
founders  of  the  reformation,  who  assumed  as  much  power 
over  their  followers,  as  the  Pope  assumes  over  the  Catholics, 
that  they  taught  doctrines  cruel,  immoral,  and  seditious  ;  and 
that  the  most  horrid  barbarities  were  committed  in  conse- 
quence of  those  doctrines.  Calvin  not  only  commits  heretics 
to  die  flames,  but  moreover  writes  a  book  in  justification  of 
his  proceedings  ;  and  in  his  commentaries  on  the  Scriptures 
he  teaches,  that  '  Usury  is  lawful.'  Lusher,  Mahncthon,  and 
Bucer,  have  authorized  polygamy,  and  permitted  a  prince  to 
marry  a  second  wife  during  the  life  of  the  first.  The  decrees 
of  the  Synod  of  Dort,  caused  great  persecutions  in  Holland. 
Knox  and  his  followers  propagated  the  Gospel  with  fire  and 
sword.  I  have  already  mentioned  the  doctrine  of  John  Huss, 
and  his  master  Wickliff,  so  inimical  to  sovereigns. 

If  I  take  a  review  of  the  greatest  chai npions  who,  within 
these  four  hundred  years,  have  undertaken  the  Herculean 
task  of  overthrowing  the  kingdom  of  Antichrist,  1  see  them 
all  claiming  a  mission  from  Heaven,  as  well  as  Mr.  Wesley, 
and  still  overturning  thrones  and  empires.  I  see  Germany 
deluged  with  oceans  of  blood ;  boors  headed  by  fanatical 
preachers,  promising  the  deluded  multitude  to  receive  the 
bullets  in  their  sleeves,  attacking  their  princes  and  sovereigns  ; 
tailors  paving  their  way  to  the  throne  over  heaps  of  mangled 
carcasses,  in  order  to  re-establish  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  ; 
apostles  heading  armies,  and  commanding,  by  the  last  will, 
their  dearly  beloved  children  reformed  from  the  errors  of 
Popery,  to  make  a  drum*  of  their  skins,  in  order  to  rouse  the 
saints  to  battle ;  the  streets  of  London  ensanguined  with  the 
gore  of  peaceable  citizens,  destroyed  by  the  fifth- monarchy 
men,  proclaiming  king  Jesus  ;  communion  tables  stained  with 
the  blood  of  Protestant  kings  ;  solemn  leagues  and  covenants 
sealed  for  the  extirpation  of  Papists  and  malignants,f  and 
entered  into  with  as  much  eagerness  as  Hannibal  entered 
Italy,  after  swearing  the  destruction  of  the  Romans,  upon  the 
Carthaginian  altars  ;  the  poniard  lifted  by  the  hand  of  religious 
madness,  and  committing  such  slaughter  and  carnage,   that 

*  Zisca,  a  follower  of  John  Huss. 

f  A  name  given  to  the  Protestants  of  the  e^tablishfd  church. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  15? 

people  propose  the  disagreeable  and  odious  problem,  4  whe- 
ther religion  has  been  of  greater  use  than  harm  to  man- 
4  kind?' 

Still  I  am  inclined  to  exculpate  religion  from  the  blame  of 
calamities  which  can  be  traced  back  to  the  rage  of  fanatical 
preachers,  the  cruelty  of  governors,  the  policy  and  craft  of 
ministers  of  state,  as  to  their  genuine  sources.  'Matters 
4  were  first  embroiled  in  the  cabinet,'  says  Rousseau,  '  and 
4  then  the  leading  men  stirred  up  the  common  people  in  the 
4  name  of  God.' 

In  the  midst  of  this  religious  rage,  I  see  humanity  assert- 
ing her  right,  and  resuming  her  empire  :  I  see  Catholic  go- 
vernors refusing  to  comply  with  the  imperious  mandates  of  a 
cruel  king,  and  a  no  less  cruel  queen,  at  the  time  of  the  mas- 
sacreof  St.  Bartholomew,  and  Catholic  bishops  saving  all 
the  Protestants  in  their  diocese :  I  see  in  Ireland,  the  great 
Protestant  bishop  Bedel  with  his  clans,  and  thousands,  in 
the  free  exercise  of  their  religion,  in  the  midst  of  a  Catholic 
army,  whilst  a  Protestant  bishop  bleeds  at  the  foot  of  a  com- 
munion-table in  Scotland,  for  reading  the  English  liturgy  : — 
Thus,  I  am  convinced  that  people  of  all  denominations  would 
be  happy  together,  if  their  clergy  recommended  mutual  love 
and  benevolence;  and  that,  if  we  divested  ourselves  of  pas- 
sion, religion  would  never  arm  the  hand  with  the  poniard.  If 
Innocent  the  Third  excommunicated  the  heretics  of  his  time. 
Innocent  the  Eleventh  entered  into  a  league  with  Protestant 
kings. 

Thus,  gentlemen,  you  see  how  the  world  changes.  On 
the  wide  theatres  spread  by  the  revolutions  of  time,  new  cha- 
racters daily  appear,  and  different  circumstances  are  pro- 
ductive of  different  events.  It  is  in  vain  to  ransack  old 
councils,  imperial  constitutions,  and  ecclesiastical  canons, 
whether  genuine  or  spurious,  against  heretics,  in  order  to 
brand  the  present  generation  of  Catholics.  In  the  very  city, 
I  mean  Rome,  where  the  general  council  of  Latcran  was  held, 
Protestants  are  caressed,  and  live  with  ease  and  comfort. 
Travellers  agree,  that  it  is  the  theatre  of  civility,  benevolence 
and  politeness.  In  the  German  empire,  where,  by  the  con- 
stitutions of  Frederic  the  Second,  heretics  were  condemned 
to  the  stake,  all  religions  enjoy  full  liberty.     In  some  places. 


158  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

the  Catholic  priest  and  Calvinist  minister  officiate  in  the 
same  church,  and  bishoprics  are  alternately  governed  by 
Catholic  and  Protestant  prelates.  All  law^,  whether  civil  or 
ecclesiastical,  are  done  away  by  time,  when  the  motives  that 
gave  them  rise  subsist  no  longer.  And  none  but  a  slave  to 
bigotry  and  prejudice  will  confound  the  eighteenth  with  the 
thirteenth  century.  Because  Father  Roger  Bacon  was  im- 
prisoned as  a  sorcerer,  on  account  of  his  extensive  knowledge 
in  astronomy,  perspective,  &c.  or  that  Gallileo's  doctrine  of 
the  motion  of  the  earth  was  condemned  by  a  numerous  tribe 
of  divines,  headed  by  seven  Cardinals,  under  the  eyes  of  the 
Roman  Pontiff,  must  it  be  obtruded  on  the  public,  that  the 
Roman  Catholics  must  consider  the  motion  of  the  earth 
round  the  sun,  as  heresy,  or  firmly  believe  that  there  is 
magic  or  witchcraft  in  the  Camera  obscura,  because  Father 
Bacon,  who  described  it,  was  seven  years  confined  in  prison  ? 
Hence  from  the  opinions  of  men,  or  the  actions  of  Popes,  or 
the  disciplinary  canons  of  Councils,  or  the  proceedings  of 
Bishops  who  composed  them,  in  one  age,  there  is  no  argu- 
ing to  the  belief  of  men  in  another.  Popes  have  attempted 
to  absolve  subjects  from  their  allegiance  to  their  sovereigns; 
it  is  no  more  an  article  of  my  belief  that  they  could  do  it  by 
the  authority  of  the  keys,  than  it  is  an  article  of  my  belief, 
that  I  can  strike  a  king  on  the  cheek,  because  Calvin  teaches, 
that,  'earthly  princes  abdicate  their  authority  when  thej 
'erect  themselves  against  God,'  and  that,  'we  ought  rather 
'spit  in  their  faces,  than  obey  them.'*  Mr.  Wesley  and  the 
Association  would  do  well  to  analyze  some  of  that  doctor's 
writings,  and  Knox's  sermons,  and  to  insert  them  in  their 
Appeal,  as  a  contrast  to  the  obsolete  canons  which  they  have 
extracted  from  Sir  Richard  Steel's  Appendix : — Erect  them- 
selves against  God,  is  a  phrase  merely  spiritual,  and  of  a  fatal 
tendency,  because  the  broachers  of  such  doctrines  think  it  a 
sufficient  plea  against  kings  not  inclined  to  receive  truths, 
they  themselves  arc  prompted  to  preach :  and  as  every  one 
thinks  himself  in  the  right,  error  has  many  chances  for  the 
sword  of  authority.  But  in  my  opinion,  Peter's  pence,  not 
Peter's  keys,  have  founded  the  claims  of  Popes,  when  they 

*  CaNin  in  Daniel,  chap.  6.  v.  22. 


,     MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  159 

made  the  unsuccessful  attempt.  To  the  investiture  of  bi- 
shoprics in  Germany,  which  brought  on  the  great  broils 
between  Popes  and  Emperors,  was  annexed  some  temporal 
emolument,  founded  upon  compacts  between  the  two  powers. 
The  English  monarchs  made  their  kingdom  tributary  to  the 
apostolical  see.  If,  then,  pontiffs  have  deviated  from  the  pri- 
mitive paths  in  meddling  in  the  temporals  of  kings,  the 
reason  is  obvious.  They  had  prescription  to  plead ;  oaths 
and  treaties  to  support  their  claims.  In  the  conduct  of 
kings,  choosing  them  for  arbiters  of  their  quarrels,  and 
liege  lords  of  their  territories,  they  found  a  specious  pretext 
to  punish  the  infraction  of  treaties,  and  the  breach  of  prero- 
gative. A  repetition  of  the  same  acts,  introduced  custom. 
Custom  supported  by  time,  obtains  the  force  of  a  law.  The 
law  bound  the  parties  concerned,  and  the  violation  of  the 
law  has  been  attended  with  penalties.  Hence  the  deposi- 
tion of  an  emperor  was  more  owing  to  the  code  and  pan- 
dects of  Justinian,  than  to  the  gospel  of  Christ.  Hence 
Henry  the  Eighth,  and  Queen  Elizabeth's  pretended  danger 
from  the  Popes  who  threatened  them,  and  attempted  in  vain 
to  absolve  their  subjects  from  their  allegiance. 

The  Popes  considered  themselves  as  the  liege  lords  of  the 
kingdom  of  England,  after  receiving  for  so  many  years  a 
tribute  from  its  sovereigns:  they  never  absolved  the  Catho- 
lics of  Denmark  and  Sweden,  from  their  allegiance  to  Pro- 
testant kings,  because  they  could  plead  no  stipulations. 
According  to  the  canon  law,  a  hundred  years  prescription  can 
be  pleaded  against  the  Church  of  Rome.  A  hundred  years 
and  more  have  elapsed,  since  any  Pope  has  attempted  to 
absolve  subjects  from  their  allegiance ;  though  armies  have 
been  poured  into  his  territories,  and  his  cities  taken  by 
princes.  Kings  have  nothing  to  dread  from  an  abrogated 
power,  abolished  by  the  same  cause  that  gave  it  rise. — But 
if  empire  be  founded  in  grace,  and  not  in  the  rights  of  na- 
ture, or  the  laws  of  civil  society;  if  a  deviation  from  the 
immutable  truth  that  saw  the  world  in  its  cradle,  and  is  to 
preside  at  its  dissolution,  be  a  plea  against  kings;  let  them 
be  eternally  armed  with  the  scales  of  the  Leviathan,  against 
the  barbed  irons  to  which  they  are  exposed,  from  those  who 
frhink  themselves  the  only  persons  enlightened  with  the  rays 

Y 


160  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

of  trospel  knowledge.     Nothing  then  is  to  be  apprehended 
from  Popes.     Less  is  to  be  apprehended  from  spurious  ca- 
nons, or  the  memory  of  councils  which  gave  up  the  ghost 
six  hundred  years  ago.     And  any    inference  from  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  fathers  of  the  council  of  Lateran,  or  obsolete 
texts  of  the  canon  law,    against  former  heretics,    to   alarm 
the  Protestants  of  our  days,  is    the    fruit  of  ignorance   or 
malice,  or  both.     The  Protestants   of  our   days  sway  the 
sceptre  of  authority.     Kingdoms    and   republics,  laws  and 
constitutions,  fcederal  unions,   and  civil  compacts,   blessings 
in  peace,  and  triumphs  in  war,  the  allegiance  of  their  sub- 
jects, and  protection  the  result  of  allegiance,  record  them 
in  the  annals  of  fame,  and  put  them  on  the  same  level  with 
the  Caesars  to  whom  tribute  and  submission  are  due.     How 
are  they  connected  with  the  motley  rabble  of  heretics  who 
appeared  and  disappeared  in  former  times,  overturning  and 
attacking  church  and  state,  and  attacked   by  both   in  their 
turn!     No   state   acknowledged  their  power;  no   band  of 
civil  union  linked  them  together;  no  subjects  swore  allegi- 
ance to  them;  no  Catholic  recognized    a  king,   parliament, 
or  magistrate  amongst  the  Albigenses,  whom  people  dignify 
with  the  title  of  Protestants;  and  whom  Protestant  powers 
would  consider  as  the  pest  and  bane  of  society,  if  such  were 
now  id  their  dominions.     Disciples  of  the  Manicheans,  they 
admitted  two   supreme    and    independent   principles;    and 
granted  two  wives,  called  Colla  and  Colliba,  to  the  God  of 
Truth.     Had  their  doctrine  been  confined  to  mere  specula- 
tions, in  an  age  more  enlightened  than  the  thirteenth  century, 
when  the  council  of  Lateran  was  held,  in  all   appearance, 
humanity  would  pity  them,  and  philosophy  would  smile  at 
their  errors. 

But  this  wild  theory  was  still  surpassed  by  the  most 
monstrous  practices.  They  considered  marriage  as  a 
state  of  perdition  ;  but  chastity  was  not  one  of  their  vows. 

More  could  be  said ;  but  I  am  afraid  that  my  readers  al- 
ready blush :  and  whoever  dignifies  the  Albigenses  with  the 
title  of  Protestants,  in  order  to  inflame  the  rage,  and  kindle 
the  rancour  of  fellow- subjects,  by  a  recital  of  the  ill  treat- 
ment of  those  pretended  martyrs,  should  not  only  blush,  but 
hide  himself. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  161 

Let  none  imagine,  that  whatever  is  mentioned  in  the  ses- 
sions of  a  general  council,  is  an  article  of  faith.     There  are 
decrees  of  discipline  which  are  at  the  discretion  of  kingdoms 
or  provinces  either  to  reject  or  adopt.     There  are  articles  of 
faith  which,  in  our  opinion,  neither  time,  place,  or  circum- 
stances can  alter.     Thus,  the  council  of  Trent,  which  com- 
mands the  Roman  Catholics,   under  pain  of  anathema,  or 
curse,  to  believe  the  necessity  of  baptism,  and  the  reality  of 
original  sin,  is  universally  received  in  all  Catholic  countries, 
as  far  as  it  confines  itself  to  the  decision  of  speculative  points, 
and  proposes  them  as  articles  of  belief:  but,  where  the  same 
council  decrees,  that  the  manor  or  land  on  which  a  duel  is 
fought,  with  the  connivance  of  the  owner,  should  be  confis- 
cated and  applied  to  pious  uses,  it  is  rejected.     Though  the 
motive  of  the  decree  is  laudable,  as  it  tends  to  suppress  vice 
and  restrain  the  passions  ;  yet,  as  me  means,  such  as  the  for- 
feiture of  lands,   &c.  are  quite  out  of  the  spiritual  line,  this 
decree  of  discipline  is  not  received.     By  the  same  rule,  two 
things  are  to  be  considered  relative  to  the  council  of  Late  ran, 
often  quoted,  and  as  often  misapplied.     The  fathers  of  that 
council  have  anathematized  the  errors  of  the  Albigenses,  so 
repugnant  to  reason,  morality,  and  the  principles  of  revealed 
religion,  and  every  similar  error  extolling  itself  against  the 
orthodox  faith.     So  far  they  confined  themselves  within  the 
limits  of  their  spiritual  provinces,  and  so  far  every  Roman 
Catholic  submits  to  their  decrees.     But  when  they  proceeded 
further,  and  granted  the  lands  of  the  persons   whom   they 
condemned  as  heretics,  to  the  Catholics  who  would  take  pos- 
session of  them  ;  no  Roman  Catholic  is  concerned  in  a  ver- 
dict that  disposes  of  temporal  property :  for  neither  popes 
nor  councils  have  been  appointed  as  the  supreme  and  infal- 
lible arbiters  of  succession  to  thrones,   the  transfer  of  pro- 
perty, or  temporal  affairs,  by  Him  who  refused  to  compro- 
mise matters  between  two  brothers,   and  declared,   that  his 
kingdom  is  not  of  this  toorld.     Nor  is  it  to  be  presumed,  that 
the  ambassadors  who  assisted  at  the  council,  would  betray 
the  interests  of  their  kings,  who  often  excepted  against  the 
competency  of  spiritual  tribunals,  as  to  the  decision   of  tem- 
poral rights.     And  as  to  the  distinction  between  articles  of 
faith,  and  canons  of  discipline,  we  find  it  even  in  the  New 
Testament. — 


162  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

The  same  apostles,  who  preached  the  divinity  of  Christ, 
which  we  all  believe,  decreed  in  a  council,  that  the  Chris- 
tians should  abstain  from  the  use  of  blood,  and  the  flesh  of 
strangled  animals.*     We  believe  the  doctrine  they  preached  : 
we    overlook  the    discipline  they  established,  because   the 
prohibition  was    temporary.      The  doctrine  is  permanent : 
opinions  are   fugitive  :  laws,    discipline,  and   decrees   vary 
with  time     We  are  but  little  concerned  in  the  transactions 
of  the  twelfth  or  thirteenth  century.     We  are  a  new  world 
raised  on  the  ruins  of  the  former,  and  if  hitherto  we  could 
not  agree  as  Christians,  it  is  high  time  to  live  together  as 
men.      There  is  land  enough  for  us  all ;  and  it  is  by  far 
better  to  see   towns    and  cities  rearing  their  heads  on  the 
banks  of  our  rivers,    than    to  see  our  fertile  country  de- 
populated by  intolerance.^  Let  religion  be  left  out  of  the 
case.     Whigs  and  tories,  Guelphes  and  Gibelinsf  may  re- 
peat the  same  creed,  and  be  still  divided.     The  French  and 
Sicilians  went  to   the  same   churches   to  sing  their  halle- 
lujahs upon  an  Easter  Sunday,  when,  soon  after,  the  groans 
of  bleeding  victims  began  to  mingle  with  the  harmonious 
sound  of  chiming  bells.      The  Dutch  and   English   were 
Protestants,   when    the  former  massacred  the  latter  in  the 
island  of  Amboyna.     Had  the  sufferers  been  of  a  different 
persuasion  from  that  of  the  aggressors,  religion  would  ap- 
pear as  the  chief  character  in  the  two  tragedies.     If  specula- 
tive errors  be  punishable,  there  is  a  day  of  reckoning ;  and 
eternity  is  long  enough  for  retribution.     But  during  the  short 
span  of  life,  chequered  with  so  many  anxious  cares,  let  us  not 
resemble  those  savages  who  glory  in  dispeopling  the  earth, 
and  carrying  the  mangled  heads  of  their  fellow-creatures  on 
the  tops  of  their  reeking  spears,  as  so  many  trophies  of  their 
barbarous  victory.    In  vain  do  we  give  ourselves  up  to  hatred 
and  vengeance :   we  soon  discover  that  such  cruel  pleasure 
was    never  adapted  to  the  heart  of  man ;  that  in  hating  others 
we  punish  ourselves  ;  that  humanity  disclaims  violence  ;  and 
that  the  law  of  God,  in  commanding  us  to  love  our  neighbour, 
has  consulted  the  most  upright  and  reasonable  dictates  of  the 

*  Acts,  chap.  15. 
f  Two   formidable   factions   in  the   time    of  the   disputes   between    the  popes   and 
emperors. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  J  63 

human  heart.  The  world  is  tired  of  religious  disputes,  and 
it  is  high  time  for  you,  Gentlemen,  to  be  tired  of  me. 

It  is  time  to  agree  to  a  truce,  and  leave  the  field  to  such 
champions  as  are  willing  to  engage  in  national  and  political 
contests,  infinitely  more  useful  to  the  public  than  the  thread- 
spun  arguments  of  polemical  divinity,  decrees  of  councils,  or 
obsolete  canons. 

Should  any  of  the  champions  of  the  eighty- five  legions  of 
Glasgow,  or  any  of  their  allies  and  confederates  sound  the 
trumpet,  I  shall  not  prepare  myself  for  battle.  If  I  at- 
tempted to  throw  fanaticism  into  ridicule,  they  are  welcome 
to  discharge  at  me  arrows  reposited  in  the  quivers  of  the 
Spanish  Friar  and  the  Duenna.  Of  what  use  is  it  to  the 
public,  if  I  have  recourse  to  Chrysal,  or,  the  Adventures  of 
a  Guinea,  where  our  modern  apostles  are  taken  off  in  the 
conference  between  Momus  and  Mother  Brimstone. 

If  the  attack  be  serious,  the  weapons  will  be  taken  from  the 
mouldering  arsenals  of  old  councils,  pope's  decrees,  and  ob- 
solete canons.  There  it  will  be  a  repetition  of  the  same  thing, 
for  ever  and  for  aye,  to  use  the  words  of  old  Robin  Hood. 
But  should  Mr.  Wesley,  W.  A.  D — mm — d,  or  any  apostle 
belonging  to  the  eighty-jive  societies,  intend  to  be  of  use  to 
the  public,  I  shall  co-operate  with  their  pious  endeavours, 
with  all  the  veins  in  my  heart. 

We  have  obtained  of  late  the  privilege  of  planting  tobacco 
in  Ireland,  and  our  tobacconists  want  paper.  Let  Mr. 
Wesley  then  come  with  me,  as  the  curate  and  barber  went 
to  shave  and  bless  the  library  of  Don  Quixote.  All  the  old 
books,  old  canons,  sermons,  and  so  forth,  tending  to  kindle 
feuds,  or  promote  rancour,  let  us  fling  them  out  at  the  win- 
dows. Society  will  lose  nothing ;  the  tobacconist  will  benefit 
by  the  spoils  of  antiquity.  And  if,  upon  mature  deliberation, 
we  decree  that  Mr.  Wesley's  Journal,  and  his  apology  for 
the  Association's  Appeal,  should  share  the  same  fate  with 
the  old  buckrams,  we  will  procure  them  a  gentle  fall.  After 
having  rocked  ourselves  in  the  large  and  hospitable  cradle 
of  the  Free-press,  where  the  peer  and  the  commoner,  the 
priest  and  the  alderman,  the  friar  and  swaddier,  can  stretch 
themselves  at  full  length,  provided  they  be  not  too  churlish, 
let  us  laugh  at  those  who  breed  useless  quarrels,    and  set 


164  MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS. 

to  the  world  the  bright  example  of  toleration  and  benevo- 
lence. 

A  peaceable  life  and  happy  death  to  all  Adam's  children  ! 
May  the  ministers  of  religion  of  every  denomination,  whether 
they  pray  at  the  head  of  their  congregations  in  embroidered 
vestments,  or  black  gowns,  short  coats,  grey  locks,  pow- 
dered wigs,  or  black  curls,  instead  of  inflaming  the  rabble, 
and  inspiring  their  hearers  with  hatred  and  animosity,  or  their 
fellow  creatures,  recommend  love,  peace,  and  harmony  ! 


I  have  the  honour  to  be, 

Gentlemen,  your  most  affectionate, 
x\nd  humble  servant, 

ARTHUR  O'LEARY. 


REJOINDER    TO 

MR.  WESLEY'S  REPLY. 

THE  following  extract  from  Locke's  letter  on  Toleration,  together  with  Mr.  Wesley's 
reply,  has  been  sent  to  the  author,  with  a  request  to  auswer  it,  if  in  his  powbb, 
says  the  writer  of  the  letter.  Mr.  Locke  in  a  profound  manner  opens  the  gate  of 
toleration  to  all  mortals,  who  do  not  entertain  any  principals  injurious  to  the  rights  of 
civil  society  :  but  my  correspondent  is  surprised  that  such  an  impartial  writer  should 
make  an  oblique  charge  on  the  Roman  Catholics,  if  it  were  not  grounded  oa 
truth:— 

4  We  cannot  find  any  sect  that  teaches  expressly  and 
<  openly,  that  men  are  not  obliged   to  keep  their  promise ; 

*  that   princes  may  be  dethroned  by  those  that  differ  from 

*  them  in  religion,  or  that  the  dominion  of  all  things  belongs 

*  only  to  themselves — but  nevertheless  we  find  those,  that  say 
« the  same  thing  in  other  words.  What  else  do  they  mean 
4  who  teach,  that  faith   is  not  to  be  kept  with  heretics  ? — 

*  What  can  be  the  meaning  of  their  asserting  that  kings, 
4  excommunicated,  forfeit  their  crowns  and  kingdoms  ? — 
4  That  dominion  is  founded  in  grace,  is  an  assertion  by  which 
'those  that  maintain  it,  do  plainly  lay  a  claim  to  the  pos- 
«  session  of  all  things.     1  say,  these  have  no  right  to  be  tole- 

*  rated  by  the  magistrate.' 

Again  :  '  That  church  can  have  no  right  to  be  tolerated 
4  by  the  magistrate,  which  is  constituted  upon  such  a  bottom, 
4  that  all  those  who  enter  into  it,  do  hereby,  ipso  facto,  deli- 
4  ver  themselves  up  to  the  protection  and  service  of  another 
4  prince ;  for  by  this  means  the  magistrate  would  give  way 
4  to  the  setting  up  of  a  foreign  jurisdiction  in  his  own  coun- 
4  try,  and  suffer  his  own  people  to  be  enlisted,  as  it  were, 
4  for  soldiers   against  his  own  government.     Nor  does  the 

*  frivolous  and  fallacious  distinction  between  the  court 
4  and  the  church,  afford  any  remedy  to  this  inconvenience ; 

*  especially  when  both  the  one  and  the  other,  are  equally 
4  subject  to  the  absolute  authority  of  the  same  person; 
4  who  has  not  only  power  to  persuade  the  members   of  his 

*  Church  to  whatever  he  lists,  either  as  purely  religious,  or 

*  as  in  order  thereunto,  but  also  can  enjoin  them,  on  pain 
4  of  eternal  fire. 

4  It  is  ridiculous  for  any  one  to  profess  himself  to  be  a 
4  Mahometan  only  in  his  religion ;  but  in  every  thing  else  a 


J6G  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

*  faithful  subject  to  a  Christian  magistrate,  whilst  at  the 
4  sarac  time,  he  acknowledges  himself  bound  to  yield    blind 

*  obedience  to  the  Mufti  of  Constantinople;  who  himself  is 
'entirely  obedient  to  the  Ottoman  Emperor,  and  frames  the 
1  feigned  oracles  of  that  religion  according  to  his  pleasure. 
'  But  this  Mahometan,  living  amongst  Christians,  would  yet 
4  more  apparently  renounce  their  government,  if  he  ac- 
knowledged the  same  person  to  be  the  head  of  his  church, 
4  who  is  the  supreme  magistrate  in  the  state.' 

Locke  on  Toleration,  p    5i!. 

— assies*— 

MR.  O'LEARY'S    ANSWER. 

Mr.  Locke's  supposed  principle  are  fully  answered  in 
4  Loyalty  Asserted.'  With  every  respect  due  to  so  great  a 
man,  he  was  as  ignorant  of  the  Catholics'  creed,  as  any  of 
the  London  rioters.  '  That  the  dominion  of  all  things  be- 
4  longs  to  the  saints,'  was  the  doctrine  of  Wickliff,  Huss,  and 
the  English  regicides  in  the  time  of  Charles  the  First :  a  doc- 
trine condemned  by  the  Council  of  Constance,  in  the  thirtieth 
proposition,  extracted  from  Huss's  writings. 

Mr.  Locke,  in  shutting  the  gates  of  toleration  against  the 
professors  of  such  a  doctrine,  fully  justifies  the  Emperor 
Sigismund  in  putting  Huss  to  death :  as  that  unhappy  man 
not  only  preached,  but  practised  it.  In  matters  more  within 
the  verge  of  his  knowledge,  I  widely  differ  from  Mr.  Locke. 
When  he  denies  any  innate  ideas,  or  the  least  notion  of  a 
God  implanted  in  our  souls,  independent  of  the  senses,  I 
prefer  the  Cartesian  philosophers,  Messieurs  de  Portroyal, 
the  bishop  of  Rochester,  and  several  others  who  were  of  a 
different  opinion.  But,  when  he  supposes  that  '  the  same 
4  person  who  is  head  of  the  church,  is  the  supreme  magistrate 
4  in  the  state ;  that  the  people  can  frame  the  feigned  oracles 
4  of  the  Catholic  religion,  as  the  Mufti  can  frame  them  for  the 
4  Turks,  by  the  direction  of  the  Ottoman  Emperor;  that  he 
4  can  persuade  the  members  of  his  church  to  whatever  he  lists, 
4  and  enjoin  it  them,  on  pain  of  eternal  fire,'  &c.  my  honest 
good  English  philosopher  was  either  snoring,  or  as  ignorant 
of  the  Catholic  creed,  as  the  old  woman  that  used  to  bring 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  167 

him  his  toast  and  ale,  when  he  was  writing  on  government, 
against  Sir  Robert  Filmer's  Patriarcha. 

The  universities  of  Paris,  Valentia,  Toulouse,  Poictiers, 
Bourdeaux,  Bourges,  Rheims,  Caen,  &c.  that  is  to  say, 
the  oracles  of  the  doctrine  taught  in  their  respective  coun- 
tries, knew  their  creed  better  than  an  English  philosopher 
could  teach  them.  They  have  stigmatized  those  assertions 
obtruded  on  the  public  by  Mr.  Locke ;  and,  in  the  con- 
demnation of  Santorellus,  who  asserted  that  the  Pope  could 
depose  kings  guilty  of  heresy,  qualify  his  doctrine  as  *  new, 
'  false,  erroneous,  contrary  to  the  word  of  God,  calculated 
'to  bring  an  odium  on  the  see  of  Rome,  to  impair  the 
1  supreme  civil  authority  that  depends  on  God  alone,  and 
'  to  disturb  the  public  tranquility.' 

Such  is  the  doctrine  of  Catholics ;  and  had  Mr.  Locke 
read  history,  or  been  candid  enough  to  acknowledge  it,  he 
would  have  found  the  practice  of  the  Catholics,  in  all  ages, 
conformable  to  the  decision. 

'  The  Pope  can  persuade  the  members  of  his  church  to 
1  what  he  lists,  and  enjoin  it  them,  on  pain  of  eternal 
'fire.' — Doubtless  !  he  can  persuade  me  to  kill  my  wothtr, 
and  enjoin  it  me,  on  pain  of  fire.  He  can  persuade  me 
that  I  eat  my  victuals  with  the  big  toe  of  my  left  foot ; 
or  that  John  Locke's  mother  was  a  virgin,  when  she  was 
delivered  of  the  author  of  the  *  Essay  on  Human  Un- 
derstanding.' 

Still  the  Pope  could  not  persuade  the  English  Catholics 
to  give  their  benefices  to  Italian  incumbents,  in  the  time 
of  Richard  the  Second,  nor  dissuade  a  Catholic  parliament 
from  introducing  the  premunire,  against  provisions  obtained 
at  the  court  of  Rome ;  an  evident  proof  that  they  knew  the 
distinction  between  the  church  and  the  court.  Pope  Boniface 
VIII.  could  not  persuade  the  Catholics  of  his  timt*  to  believe 
that  he  was  lord  paramount  of  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth ; 
nor  dissuade  the  king  of  France  from  writing  the  follow- 
ing letter  to  him  :  *  We  would  have  your  Madness  know,  that 
*  we  acknowledge  no  superior  in  temporals  but  God  alone.' 

Pius  the  Fifth,  and  Sixtus  Quintus,  in  publishing  their 
bulls  of  deposition  against  queen  Elizabeth,*  and  absoJving 

*  Such   proceedings  are  accounted  for  iu  Loyalty  Asserted,  in   the   discussion  of 
the  deposing1  power. 


168  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

.her  subjects  from  their  allegiance,  could  not  persuade  the 
Catholics  of  England  to  rise  up  in  arms  against  their  so- 
vereign, though  they  were  superior  in  numbers,  and  had 
room  to  expect  every  assistance. 

Two  proofs  which  will  ever  stand  upon  record,  that  Ca- 
tholics never  hold  difference  in  religion,  as  a  sufficient  plea 
for  dethroning  kings  ;  nor  a  Pope's  bull  a  sufficient  cause  for 
withdrawing  their  allegiance. 

In  the  dark  ages,  Popes  were  deposed  by  the  Council  of 
Constance ;  and  John  the  Twenty-second,  who  preached  up 
the  Milknarian  doctfine,  and  held  that  souls  do  not  enjoy 
the  clear  sight  of  God  until  after  the  resurrection,  could  not 
persuade  the  members  of  his  church  to  believe  him  :  nor  dis- 
suade the  university  of  Paris  from  censuring  a  doctrine, 
which  the  head  of  their  church  preached  from  the  pulpit  at 
Avignon,  and  which  he  himself  retracted  before  a  notary 
public,  and  several  witnesses  in  his  last  sickness;  nor  dis- 
suade a  French  king  from  writing  this  short  letter  to  him, 
'  Retracte,  ou  je  te  ferai  ardre' — retract,  or  I  will  get,  you 
burned.  An  evident  proof  that  the  Pope  cannot  '  persuade 
'the  members  of  his  church,  to  what  he  lists,  nor  enjoin  it 
'them  on  pain  of  eternal  fire.' 

For  the  honour  of  Locke's  memory,  let  my  correspondent 
throw  the  fifty-ninth  page  of  his  treatise  on  toleration  into  the 
fire,  for  it  is  a  jumble  of  nonsense. 

All  the  Popes'  bulls  from  the  time  of  St.  Peter,  to  the  end 
of  ages,  cannot  make  an  article  of  faith  for  Roman  Catholics, 
without  the  acceptance  of  the  Universal  Church  ;  and  the 
church  has  no  power  over  the  temporals  of  kings,  much  less 
to  command  any  thing  against  the  laws  of  God. 

Catholics  never  folio w  an  arbitrary  doctrine.  The  stan- 
dard is  fixed  ;  the  boundaries  are  prescribed,  and  the  Pope 
himself  cannot  remove  them  :  they  consider  him  as  the  head 
pastor  of  the  church. — Subordination  in  every  society,  re- 
quires pre-eminence  in  its  rulers :  but  his  will  is  not  their 
creed. 

As  to  Mr.  Wesley,  his  reply  to  me  is  little  more  than  a 
repetition  of  his  first  letter.  He  denies  '  that  he  himself,  or 
'his  followers,  were  ever  persecuted.'   For  the  truth  I  appeal 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  1 69 

to  his  own  conscience  :  I  appeal  to  his  '  Farther  Appeal'  to 
men  of  reason  and  religion,  wherein  he  describes  the  suffer- 
ings of  several  of  his  followers  in  England;  how  he  himself 
was  dragged  by  the  mob  ;  and  the  proceedings  of  a  magistrate 
who  dispersed  a  pamphlet,  entitled  '  A  parallel  between  the 
Papists  and  Methodists ,'  in  order  to  kindle  the  rage  of  the  po- 
pulace against  him.  I  appeal  to  the  letter  he  wrote,  many 
years  ago,  to  doctor  Bailey  of  Cork,  wherein  he  complains 
that  the  Grand  Jury  of  that  city  found  indictments  against 
Charles  Wesley,  who  makes  the  hymns,  and  ordered  him  to 
be  transported  as  a  vagabond.  Mr.  Wesley  has  got  the  let- 
ter printed,  with  the  names  of  the  Grand  Jury.  Hut,  after 
having  weathered  the  storm,  the  mariner  on  shore  forgets  his 
distresses  as  well  as  his  sea  chart. 

To  show  that  his  friend,  John  Huss,  never  *  kindled  any 
4  civil  wars  in  Bohemia,  and  that  he  was  quite  innocent  of 
1  any  offence  whatever,'  he  quotes  the  following  testimonial, 
given  to  John  Huss,  by  the  bishop  of  Nazareth,  '  We,  Nicho- 

*  las,  do,  by  these  presents,  make  known  unto  all  men,  that 

*  we  often  talked  with  that  honourable  man,  John  Huss,  and 
1  in  all  his  sayings,  doings,  and  behaviour,  have  found  him 
'to  be  a  faithful  man  ;  finding  no  manner  of  evil,  sinister 
'  or  erroneous  doings  in  him,  unto  these  presents.'  To 
this  Mr.  Wesley  subjoins  a  testimonial  from  the  arch- 
bishop of  Prague,  declaring,  *  that  he  knew  not  that  John 
'  Huss  was  culpable  or  faulty  in  any  crime  or  offence  what- 

*  soever.' 

Let  us  now  suppose  those  testimonials  to  be  genuine,  and 
grant  them  to  Mr.  Wesley  to  get  rid  of  a  bad  cause.  VV  hat 
advantage  can  he  derive  from  them  ?  The  bishop  of  Naza- 
reth declares,  that  he  talked  very  often  with  John  Huss,  and 
that  in  their  conversation,  he  discovered  nothing  sinister  or  er- 
roneous in  him.  Doubtless,  in  conversing  with  a  bishop  who 
was  an  Inquisitor,  John  Huss  was  upon  his  guard.  The 
archbishop  '  knew  not  that  he  was  culpable.'  The  conversa- 
tion of  the  first,  and  the  know  not  of  the  other,  must  coun- 
terbalance the  positive  and  decisive  proofs,  produced  on  a 
criminal's  trial,  in  presence  of  a  general  council,  no  ways  in- 
terested in  the  condemnation  of  a  man,  in  whom  there  4  was 
'  no  evil,  nothing  sinister  or  erroneous.'     Testimonials  are 


170  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

often  granted  to  people  from  tenderness,  or  ignorance,  which 
will  avail  but  little  on  a  trial. 

The  thirtieth  proposition,  extracted  from  Huss's  works, 
and  condemned  by  the  Council,  runs  thus  :   '  there  is  no  tem- 

*  poral  Lord,  there  is  no  Pope,  no  Bishop,  when  he  is  in  the 
'  state  of  mortal  sin.'  Huss  himself  acknowledged  this  sedi- 
tious proposition,  which  authorizes  the  fanatical  saint  to  take 
the  king's  crown,  if  he  sees  him  but  once  drunk  ;  or  to  seize 
the  property  of  the  lord  of  the  manor,  if,  in  scolding  his 
coachman,  he  curses.  The  fruits  of  this  doctrine  were  as 
visible  in  Bohemia,  as  the  fruits  of  Mr.  Wesley's  Apology 
for  the  Associations,  are  legible  in  the  glowing  embers  of 
London. 

L'Enfant,  the  Calvinist  historian  of  the  Council  of  Con- 
stance, better  informed  than  Mr.  Wesley,  can  instruct  him 
in  these  words :  '  John  Huss,  by  his  sermons  and  writings, 

*  and  violent  and  outrageous  conduct,  had  extremely  con- 
'  tributed  to  the  troubles  which  then  distracted  Bohe- 
'  mia.'* 

What  becomes  now  of  testimonials  which  carry  contradic- 
tion on  the  very  face  of  them,  whereas  John  Huss  was  ex- 
communicated a  year  and  a  half  before  he  obtained  them  ? 
Those  Bishops,  then,  must  have  been  mistaken  if  their  testi- 
monials be  genuine.  Each  of  them  must  have  been  the  Bur- 
net of  his  days  ;  of  whom  Protestant  as  well  as  Catholic  his- 
torians remark,  that  he  is  never  to  be  believed  less,  than  when 
he  relates  facts,  of  which  he  pretends  to  have  been  an  ocular 
witness. 

Mr.  Wesley  denies   that  { John  Huss  ever  attempted  to 

*  make  his  escape.'  He  may  deny  his  own  journals.  Dacher 
and  Reichenthal,  two  German  historians,  present  at  the  Coun- 
cil, and  on  whom  L'Enfant  passes  the  highest  encomiums 
for  candour  and  integrity,  relate  that  John  Huss  attempted 
to  make  his  escape.  Here  he  violated  his  safe  conduct, 
and  forced  his  judges  to  confine  him.  L'Enfant  exhausts 
his  wit,  to  invalidate  the  relation  of  those  (according  to  him- 
self,) i  unprejudiced  historians.'  His  chief  reasons  are  'the 
1  silence  of  the  acts  of  the  Council  about  Huss's  flight.'  To 
this  it  is  answered,   that  in  the  acts  of  a  Council,  the  judi- 

*  L'Enfant,  B.  3.  No. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  171 

clal  acts  done  in  full  council,  are  alone  related;  not  every 
incident  that  happens  in  a  city  where  it  is  held.  Hence 
Huss's  imprisonment  is  not  mentioned.  Jerome  of  Prague's 
flight  is  mentioned,  because  the  council  sent  him  a  safe- 
conduct,  and  the  cause  required  to  be  specified.  Secondly, 
he  says  that,  '  it  appears  that  John  Huss  was  apprehended 
4  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  November,  and  consequently  could 
'  not  escape  in  the  following  March.'  Besides  other  reasons 
it  can  be  answered  that  the  mistake  of  a  date,  (often  owing 
to  the  fault  of  copyers  or  printers,)  cannot  invalidate  the 
truth  of  a  public  fact  attested  by  such  ocular  witnesses,  as 
L'Enfant  describes  the  two  German  historians  to  have 
been. 

But  Mr.  Wesley  insists,  that  i  the  Emperor  Sigismund 
4  granted  Huss  a  safe-conduct,  promising  him  impunity,  in 
4  case  he  was  found  guilty.'  I  explained  the  nature  of  safe- 
conducts,  in  my  Remarks  on  that  gentleman's  letters ;  and 
I  insist  that  safe-conducts  of  the  kind  are  never  granted.  It  is 
enough  for  sovereigns  to  extend  the  mercy  of  prerogative  to 
criminals,  when  they  are  found  guilty  by  their  judges,  with- 
out, saying  to  a  rebel,  oran  incendiary,  or  to  a  highwayman : 
4  go  and  take  your  trial:  never  fear :  1  will  grant  you  your 
4  pardon,  when  you  are  found  guilty,  though  1  am  convinced 
1  you  are  an  arrant  rogue.'  They  never  enter  into  compacts 
of  the  kind  with  such  people.  A  man  who  is  to  take  his 
trial,  and  his  enemies  in  the  way,  may  call  for  a  safe-conduct 
to  go  to  the  place  of  trial,  and  return  unmolested,  if  he  is 
acquitted ;  and  this  was  the  case  of  Huss.  He  offered  of 
himself  to  take  his  trial,  and  to  submit  to  the  sentence,  if 
found  guilty.  He  never  upbraided  the  emperor  with  his 
breach  of  promise,  when  he  was  given  up  to  the  secular 
arm ;  which  he  would  have  done,  had  the  emperor  given 
him  such  an  assurance.  The  Hussites  themselves  went,  on 
the  faith  of  a  safe-conduct,  to  the  Council  of  Basil,  and 
never  aliened  breach  of  faith  with  John  Huss. 

It  was,  then,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  when  interested 
men  fomented  divisions  between  Catholics  and  Protestants, 
that  the  hand  of  calumny  wrote  false  commentaries  on  the 
text  of  the  canon  of  the  Council  of  Constance;  and  handed 
it  down  as  a  theme  to  religious  declaimers,  whom  the  test  o{ 


172  MISCELLANEOUS     TRACTS. 

orthodoxy  proposed  by   the  very  Council,  will  ever  stare  in 
the  face. 

Here  is  the  test  inserted  in  a  bull  published  with  the 
approbation  of*  a  general  Council,  not  by  the  Pope  in  his 
personal  capacity,  but  sacro  approbnnte  Concilia.  '  Let  the 
'  person  suspected  be  asked,  whether  he  or  she  does  not 
*  think  that  all  wilful  perjury,  committed  upon  any  occa- 
4  sion  whatsoever,  for  the  preservation  of  one's  life,  or 
'  another  man's,  or  even  for  the  sake  of  the  faith,  is  a  mor- 
«  tal  sin  ?' 

I  have  read  near  upon  a  thousand  religious  declamations 
against  Popery;  not  one  of  the  authors  of  those  invectives 
has  candour  or  honour  to  produce  that  test  in  favour  of  Ca- 
tholics ;  which  shews  the  spirit  that  actuates  them  They 
should,  at  least,  imitate  the  limner  who  first  painted  Pope's 
Essay  on  Man,  and  contrasted,  on  the  same  canvass,  the 
blooming  cheek  with  the  frightful  skeleton,  linked  together 
in  the  same  group.  No,  they  will  paint  the  Catholic  reli- 
gion in  profile,  and  fix  a  Saracen's  cheek  into  the  face  of 
the  Christian.  The  declaration  of  a  general  Council,  which 
can  afford  the  least  occasion  for  cavil,  will  be  eternally  held 
forth,  whilst  the  decrees  of  the  same  Council,  liable  to  no 
misconstruction,  where  fraud  and  perjury,  even  for  the 
sake  of  religion,  are  condemned,  will  be  overlooked.  Bel- 
larmin,  Becanus,  and  those  other  Knoxes  and  Buchanans 
of  the  Catholic  religion,  whose  works  are  burned  by  the 
hands  of  the  executioner  in  Catholic  countries,  are  dragged 
from  their  shelves,  whilst  the  decisions  of  the  most  learned 
universities  in  the  world,  that  condemned  the  false  doc- 
trine of  those  incendiaries,  are  buried  in  silence.  The 
bee  pitches  on  flowers,  but  the  beetle  falls  upon  nui- 
sances. 

They  will  be  eternally  teasing  their  hearers  and  readers 
with  the  word  heretic,  without  explaining  its  sense  or  accep- 
tation. They  will  erect  it  as  a  kind  of  standard  to  which  all 
the  fanatics  of  the  world  will  flock  to  fight  the  battles  of  the 
Lord  against  Antichrist ;  and  in  this  confederate  army,  they 
will  confound  the  archbishop  of  Cashel,  who  fills  his  see  after 
a  long  succession  of  Protestant  bishops,  with  John  Huss, 
who  starts  up  on  a  sudden,  flying  in  the  faces  of  kings  and 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  173 

bishops.  They  will  confound  the  bishop  of  Cork  with 
Theodoras  Sartor,  stretching  himself  naked  before  a  num- 
ber of  prophets  and  prophetesses,  who  burn  their  clothes, 
and  run  naked  through  the  streets  of  Amsterdam,  denounc- 
ing their  woes,  and  foretellino;  the  destruction  of  Antichrist. 
They  will  put  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  on  a  level  with 
the  ratarini,  who  exclaimed  against  Popery,  and  held  that 
no  sin  could  be  committed  with  the  lower  parts  of  the 
body. 

In  fine,  all  those  monsters  that  started  up  from  time  to 
time,  and  whom  our  magistrates  would  doom  to  the  rope  or 
fagot,  are  made  good  Protestants,  because  they  exclaimed 
against  Popery ;  an  enumeration  of  their  sufferings  from 
Papists,  is  enlarged  upon :  and  the  Protestant  bishop,  or 
the  Protestant  king,  has  no  mercy  to  expect  from  Papists: 
for  sure  they  are  held  in  the  same  light,  by  them,  with  James 
Nailer,  who,  after  fighting  against  Papists  and  Malignants9 
in  Cromwell's  army,  turned  prophet,  and  rode  into  Bristol, 
mounted  on  an  ass,  on  a  Palm  Sunday,  attended  with  num- 
bers of  women,  spreading  their  aprons  before  him,  and 
making  the  air  re-echo  to  loud  hosannahs :  4  Holy,  holy, 
4  holy,  hosannah  to  James  Nailer ;   blessed  is  James  Nailer, 

*  who  comes  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  !'*  Those  gentlemen 
never  mention  heretics  excommunicated  by  Protestant 
churches,  and  put  to  death  by  Protestant  magistrates.  They 
never  mention  the  description  given  of  heretics  by  Protes- 
tant writers  ;  by  Godolphin,  the  Protestant  canonist,  and 
Sir  Edward  Coke,  the  Protestant  lawyer,  who  both  call 
heresy,  4  leprum  animce.'' — the  leprosy  of  the  soul.  No,  he- 
resy is  the  Papist's  favourite  theme.  No  Protestant  ever 
made  any  commentaries  on  it. 

The  same  uncandid  fallacy  that  lurks  under  the  word  he- 
retic, with  wiiich  the  Catholics  are  always  taunted,  is  mani- 
fest in  the  strained  construction  of  the  canon  of  the  Council 
of  Constance.  A  spiritual  cause  is  to  be  tried  by  ecclesias- 
tical judges.  They  declare  that  '  no  safe-conduct  granted  by 
4  princes,  shall  hinder  heretics  from    being  judged  and  pu- 

*  nished.'  (with  ecclesiastical  censures  and  degradation,  for 
&eir  power  to  punish  can  extend  no  farther)  '  and  that  when 

*  Swell's  Life  »f  Janes  Nailer. 


174  miscellaneous  tracts. 

4  the  person  who  has  promised  them  security'  (from  this 
ecclesiastical  punishment,  for  no  other  can  be  meant  by  a 
spiritual  tribunal),  ;  has  done  all  that  is  in  his  power  to  do, 
«  shall  not  in  this  case,'  (the  case  of  securing  from  a  spiritual 
or  ecclesiastical  punishment  inflicted  by  a  lawful  superior,) 
«  be  obliged  to  keep  his  promise  :'  because  a  promise  of  the 
kind,  made  to  one  of  their  rebellious  clergymen,  who  cor- 
rupts and  falsifies  their  doctrine,  is  an  unjust  usurpation  of 
their  rights,  and  subversive  of  their  spiritual  jurisdiction. — 
And  an  unjust  promise,  injurious  to  the  rights  of  another,  is 
not  binding,  let  the  tie  be  what  it  will.  Herod  promised 
upon  oath  to  give  his  daughter  whatever  she  would  ask  for. 
He  was  not  nound  to  give  her  the  head  of  John  the  Bap- 
tist. If  the  king  of  England,  without  even  depriving  a 
single  man  of  his  estate,  bound  himself  by  oath,  to  arrogate 
to  himself  the  legislative  as  well  as  the  executive  power; 
every  antagonist  of  Popery,  from  the  Prelate  down  to  the 
tub-preacher,  would  cry  out,  with  the  fathers  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  Constance  :  '  He  is  not,  in  this  case,  obliged  to  keep 
his  promise.' 

In  this  sense,  the  canon  of  the  Council  is  to  be  under- 
stood. In  this  sense,  the  fathers  themselves,  the  best  in- 
terpreters of  their  own  meaning,  understand  it.  In  this 
sense  the  Catholic  doctors,  all  over  the  world,  understand 
it;  they  who  are  more  competent  judges  of  their  own  creed, 
than  either  Mr.  Locke  or  Mr.  Wesley.  Such  of  them  as  arc 
of  opinion,  that  the  supreme  power  of  the  state  can  make 
heresy  a  capital  crime,  rise  up  with  indignation  against  the 
false  accusers  who  say  that  the  Council  authorised  breach  of 
faith  with  heretics.  They  write  in  Catholic  states  where 
they  have  nothing  to  fear,  and  less  to  expect,  from  Mr. Wes- 
ley and  his  London  rioters. 

If  Mr.  Wesley  construes  this  canon  in  a  different  sense,  it 
is  no  reason  for  obtruding  his  tortured  construction  on  me, 
as  an  article  of  orthodoxy.  An  Arian  may  as  well  persuade 
the  public,  that  I  do  not  believe  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  be- 
cause he  does  not  believe  in  it  himself,  and  tortures  the  Scrip- 
tures in  support  of  his  errors.  John  Huss  was  a  priest,  or- 
dained in  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  said  mass  until  the  day 
of  his  confinement.  I  suppose  Mr.  Wesley  Avill  not  allow, 
that  a  temporal  prince  could  deprive  his  spiritual  superiors 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  175 

from  censuring  and  degrading  him,   if  found  guilty   of  an 
erroneous  doctrine. 

Every  church  claims  to  herself  the  power  of  inflicting  spi- 
ritual punishments,  independent  of  the  magistrates.  The 
church  of  Rome,  the  consistories  of  Scotland,  and  all  others. 
When  the  council  of  two  hundred  arrogated  to  themselves 
the  power  of  denouncing  and  absolving  from  censures,  and 
in  consequence  intended  to  absolve  one  Bertelier,  Calvin 
ascended  the  pulpit,  and,  with  outstretched  hands,  threat- 
ened to  oppose  force  to  force ;  exclaimed  with  vehemence  of 
voice  against  the  profanation,  and  forced  the  senate  to  resign 
their  spiritual  commission.  Bertelier  was  punished  in  spite 
of  the  promise  of  the  civil  power.  When  Mr.  Wesley  refused 
the  sacrament  to  Mrs.  Williamson,  in  Georgia,  for  opposing 
the  propagation  of  the  Gospel,  in  giving  the  preference  to 
Mr.  Williamson,  the  layman,  at  a  time  when  the  clergy- 
man intended  to  light  Hymen's  torch  with  a  spark  of  grace  ; 
a  conflict  of  jurisdiction  between  the  clergy  and  laity  was  the 
result;  Mr.  Wesley  was  indicted;  and  the  following  war- 
rant, copied  by  himself  into  his  journal,  was  issued: 

"GEORGIA.  SAVANNAH,  ff. 

"  To  all  Constables,  Ty  thing  Men,  and  others  whom  these  may 

"  concern. 

"  You  and  each  of  you  are  hereby  required  to  take  the 
"  body  of  John  Wesley,  clerk,  &c.  &c.  &c. 

(Signed)  "Til  Christie." 

'  Tuesday,  the  ninth,'  says  Mr.  Wesley,  '  Mr.  Jones,  the 
*  constable,  carried  me  before  Mr.  Bailiff  Parker  and  Mr. 
4  Recorder.  My  answer  to  them  was — that  the  giving  or 
'refusing  the  Lord's  supper  being  a  matter  purely  ecclesi- 
4  astic,  I  could  not  acknowledge  their  power  to  interrogate 
4  me  upon  it.'*  If  Mr.  Wesley,  then,  thought  himself  justi- 
fiable in  pleading  the  clerical  privilege,  let  him  not  blame 
the  fathers  of  Constance,  for  declaring  their  right  to  punish 
with  ecclesiastical  censures  and  degradation,  one  of  their 
own  subjects,  in  spite  of  any  safe-conduct  granted  by  the 

*  See  this  whole  affair  in  Mr.  Wesley's  Journal  of  the  year  1737,  p.  43. 

A  A 


17&  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

civil  power;  especially  at  a  time  when  the  superiority 
over  their  own  clergy  was  confirmed  to  the  bishops  by 
the  laws  of  the  empire,  with  which  Sigismund  could  no 
more  dispense  at  that  time,  than  James  the  Second  could 
in  his. 

'But,'  says  Mr.  Wesley,  'sure  Huss  would  not  have  come 
i  to  Constance,  had  he  foreseen  the  consequence.'  That  re- 
garded himself.  Obstinate  persons  seldom  think  themselves 
in  error.  Strange  instances  of  this  obstinacy  can  be  met 
with  in  the  trials  of  the  Regicides;  some  of  whom  declared, 
at  the  hour  of  death,  that  they  gloried  in  having  a  hand  in 
the  king's  death,  and  would  cheerfully  play  over  the  same 
tragedy.  We  have  a  more  recent  instance  of  this  obsti- 
nacy, in  one  of  Mr.  Wesley's  martyrs.  Scarcely  could  the 
Protestant  clergyman  prevail  on  one  of  the  rioters,  who  had 
been  very  active  in  plundering  the  city  of  London,  to  take 
the  blue  cockade  out  of  his  hat,  in  going  to  the  gallows.  He 
cried  out  that  he  died  a  martyr  to  the  Protestant  religion. — 
We  have  daily  instances  of  people  giving  themselves  up  to 
take  their  trial,  who  are  disappointed,  without  any  impu- 
tation on  their  judges. 

Jerome  of  Prague,  who  maintained  the  same  error  with 
Huss,  came  to  Constance,  after  his  confrere's  execution. — 
The  Council  sent  him  a  safe-conduct,  with  this  express  clause  : 
i  salvo  jure  concilii?  reserving  to  the  Council  its  right  to  judge 
you.  He  came:  and  the  Council  judged  and  punished  him 
with  degradation,  as  it  had  done  with  regard  to  Huss:  and 
left  him  to  the  secular  arm  :  as  Calvin,  Queen  Elizabeth,  and 
King  James  I.  did  to  the  heretics  whom  their  consistories 
and  bishops  had  judged  and  found  guilty  of  heretical pravity. 
cBut  was  not  the  Emperor  Sigismund  cruel  in  putting 
4  those  men  to  death  ?'  It  is  not  his  lenity  or  cruelty  that 
we  examine:  1  only  vindicate  myself  and  the  Catholic 
Church  from  a  slanderous  doctrine.  He  was  not  more 
cruel  for  putting  seditious  men,  one  of  whom  had  committed 
wilful  murder,  to  death,  than  Protestant  sovereigns  who 
doomed  old  women  to  the  stake,  for  a  kind  of  gibberish 
about  the  incarnation.  My  sentiments  on  that  subject  I 
have  explained. 

Jerome  of  Prague's  coming  to  the  Council,  shews  that  it 
did  not  violate  faith  with  John  Huss.  Neither  doth  any  one 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  177 

accuse  the  Council  of  violating  faith  with  Jerome.  They 
were  both  more  obstinate  than  Mr.  Wesley,  who  ran  away 
from  the  bailiffs  of  Georgia,  and  would  not  return  to  them. 
In  this  he  followed  Sancho's  maxim :  *  Many  go  to  the 
*  market  for  tvool,  that  come  home  sliorn.' 


I  have  the  honour  to  be, 

Gentlemen,  your  most  affectionate, 
And  humble  servant, 

ARTHUR  O'LEARY. 


AN 


ESSAY  ON  TOLERATION. 

MR.  O'LEARY'S  PLEA  FOR 

LIBERTY    OF   CONSCIENCE. 

.itrOtCa**- 
TJIE    INTRODUCTION. 

My  design,  in  the  following  sheets,  is,  to  throw  open  the 
gates  of  civil  toleration  for  all  Adam's  children,  whose  prin- 
ciples are  not  inconsistent  with  the  peace  of  civil  society,  or 
subversive  of  the  rules  of  morality  ;  to  wrench,  as  far  as  in  my 
power  lies,  the  poniard  so  often  tinged  with  human  blood, 
from  the  hand  of  persecution ;  to  sheath  the  sword,  which 
misguided  2eal  has  drawn  in  defence  of  a  Gospel  which  re- 
commends peace  and  love  ;  to  restore  to  man  the  indelible 
charter  of  his  temporal  rights,  which  no  earthly  power  has 
ever  been  commissioned  by  Heaven  to  deprive  him  of.  on 
account  of  his  mental  errors,  to  re-establish  the  empire  of 
p<  ace,  overthrown  so  often  by  religious  feuds  ;  and  to  cement 
all  mortals,  especially  Christians,  in  the  ties  of  social  harmony, 
by  establishing  toleration  on  its  proper  grounds. 

The  history  of  the  calamities  occasioned  by  difference  in 
religious  opinions,  is  a  sufficient  plea  for  undertaking  the 
task.  But  time  does  not  allow  me  to  enter  into  a  detail  of 
those  melancholy  scenes,  which  misconstrued  religion  has 
displayed.  The  effects  are  well  known  :  but  it  is  high  time 
to  remove  the  cause. 

The  mind  shrinks  back  at  the  thoughts  of  the  cruelties  ex- 
ercised against  the  Christians  by  Heathen  Emperors,  for  the 
space  of  three  hundred  years.  Scarce  did  the  Christians  be- 
gin to  breathe,  under  the  first  princes  who  embraced  their  re- 
ligion, than  they  fell  out  amongst  themselves,  about  the  mys- 
teries of  the  bcriptures.  Arianism,  protected  by  powerful 
sovereigns,  raised,  against  the  defenders  of  the  Trinity, 
persecutions  as  violent  as  those  raised  formerly  by  the  Hea- 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  J  79 

thens.  Since  that  time,  at  different  intervals,  error,  backed 
by  power,  persecuted  truth.  And  the  partizans  of  truth, 
forgetful  of  thr  moderation  which  reason  and  religion 
prescribe,  committed  the  same  excesses  with  which  they  up- 
braided their  oppressors.  Sovereigns  blinded  by  dangerous 
zeal, — or  guided  by  barbarous  policy, — or  seduced  by  odious 
councils, — became  the  executioners  of  their  subjects  who 
adopted  religious  systems  different  from  those  of  their  rulers ; 
or  persevered  in  ancient  systems,  from  which  their  sovereigns 
had  receded. 

Had  those  horrors  been  confined  to  one  sect  of  Christians 
only,  infidels  would  not  have  been  so  successful  in  their 
attacks  on  the  system  at  large  ;  though  religion  disclaims  the 
odious  imputation.  But  all  sects  execrated  and  attempted  to 
extirpate  one  another.  Europe  became  one  wild  altar,  on 
which  every  religious  sect  offered  up  human  victims  to  its 
creed. 

The  ministers  of  a  religion  that  had  triumphed  over  the 
Caesars,  not  by  resistance,  but  by  suffering,  became  the 
apologists  of  calamities  that  swept  from  the  face  of  the 
earth,  or  oppress  to  this  very  day,  God's  noblest  images — 
upright,  virtuous,  and  dauntless  men.  Like  the  warrior 
in  the  scriptures,  they  stept  into  the  sanctuary,  to  grasp 
the  barbarian's  sword  wrapt  up  in  the  ephod.  The  code 
of  temporal  laws,  teeming  with  sanctions  against  robbers 
and  murderers,  was  swelled,  to  the  surprise  and  de- 
struction of  mankind,  with  additional  decrees  against  he- 
retics and  Papists.  The  inoffensive  citizen  who,  from 
an  apprehension  of  offending  the  Deity,  by  acting  against 
his  conscience,  was  confined  in  the  same  dungeon,  or 
doomed  to  the  fagot  or  axe,  with  the  parricide  who  laid 
aside  every  restraint  of  moral  obligation  :  and  the  scrip- 
tures were  adduced  in  justification  of  the  sanguinary  con- 
fusion. The  wreath  and  the  rod  have  been  held  forth,  not 
to  crown  the  worthy,  and  punish  the  pernicious,  but  to 
scourge  to  conformity,  candid  and  steady  virtue.  The 
priest  gave  the  sanction  of  Heaven  to  the  bloody  mandates 
of  the  civil  magistrate  :  and  the  civil  magistrate  unsheathed 
the  sword  to  vindicate  the  cause  of  the  God  of  Heaven,  who 
reserves  to  himself  the  punishment  of  man's  conscience.  No 
person  has  a  greater  respect  for  the  clerical  order,  of  every 


180  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

denomination,  than  I  have.  I  am  of  the  number,  and  feel 
myself  wounded  through  their  sides,  when  the  Deist  and 
free-thinker,  who  hold  them  all  in  equal  contempt,  contend 
'that  in  all  ages,  and  in  all  countries,  the  clergy  are  the 
4  main  props  of  persecution.  That  had  they  been  as  solici- 
4  tous  to  heal,  and  conciliate  men's  hearts,  as  they  have  been 
1  to  inflame  and  divide  them,  the  world  would  by  this  time 
4  bear  a  different  aspect.  That  they  should  have  left  the  laity 
*in  peaceable   possession  of  good  neighbourhood,  mutual 

*  charity,  and  friendly  confidence.     That  instead  of  enforcing 

*  the  great  principles  of  religion,  the  very  basis  whereof  is 

*  charity,  peace,  and  love,  they  are  ever  and  always  the  first 

*  oppressors   of  those  who  differ  from  them  in  opinion  ;  and 

*  the  active  and  impelling  spring  that  gives  force  and  elasti- 
1  city  to  the  destructive  weapons  of  the  civil  power.'  In 
corroboration  of  the  charge,  the  free-thinker  will  unfold  the 
page  of  history,  and  open  those  enormous  volumes,  made  up 
of  religious  declamation.     He  will  prove  from  both,  that  if 

*  popes,  and  their  apologists,  have  scattered  the  fire-brand, 

*  their  spiritual  brethren  have  faithfully  copied  their  example, 

*  in  succeeding  times,  wherever  their  power  and  influence 
4  prevailed.' 

4  Though  the  Protestant  divines,'  says  Hume,    *  had  ven- 

*  tured  to  renounce  opinions,  deemed  certain  for  so  many 
4  ages,  they  regarded  in  their  turn,  the  new  system  so  cer- 
4  tain,  that  tbey  could  bear  no  contradiction  with  regard  to 
4  it :  and  they  were  ready  to  burn  in  the  same  flames,  from 

*  which  they  themselves  had  so  narrowly  escaped,  every  one 
'that  had  the  assurance  to  oppose  them.'*  Hence  the  scaf- 
folds reeking  in  Holland  with  the  blood  of  many  illus- 
trious men,  who,  after  opposing  Philip  the  Second's  efforts 
to  introduce  conformity  by  fire  and  sword,  fell  themselves 
by  the  hand  of  the  executioner,  for  denying  Gomars  predes- 
tination. Hence  hecatombs  of  victims  offered  upon  the 
gloomy  altar  of  die  Scotch  league  and  covenant,  and  peopling 
the  regions  of  the  dead,  for  differing  in  opinion.  4  Out  of 
4  every  contested  verse,'  says  the  satirical  Voltaire,  4  there 
4  issued  fury  armed  with  a  quibble  and  a  poniard,  who  in- 
4  spired  mankind  at  once  with  folly  and  cruelty.' 

*  Hume's  History  of  England,  Vol.4,  p,  161. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  181 

The  same  demon  that  poured  the  poisonous  cup  over  the 
kingdoms  and  provinces  of  Europe,  took  his  flight  over 
the  Atlantic,  and  spread  his  baneful  influence  amongst  co- 
lonists who  had  themselves  fled  from  the  scourge.  Their 
new  built  cities,  like  so  many  Jerusalems,  were  purified 
from  idolatry.  There  no  Popish  priest  dared  bend  his 
knee  to  k  his  idols,  or  transfer  to  stock  or  stone,  the 
'worship  due  to  the  God  of  Israel.'  There  the  Quaker- 
woman's  silent  groans  were  raised  on  the  high  key  of 
loud  shrieks,  when  the  Lord's  deputy  ordered  her  pro- 
fane breasts  to  be  whipt  off  by  the  Gospel  scourge,  that 
whipped  the  profaners  out  of  the  temple.  There  the 
Quaker  was  seen,  suspended  by  the  neck  on  high,  for 
daring  to  pollute  the  sacred  streets  with  his  profane  (eett 
moved  by  BaaVs  spirit.  The  holy  city,*  thus  purged  from 
the  Jebuseans,  and  Pheriseans,  was  split  soon  after  into 
two  factions.  The  two  famous  covenants,  the  covenant 
of  grace,  and  the  covenant  of  works,  soon  divided  the 
spiritual  militants.  The  jarring  of  divinity  caused  such 
dissensions,  that  in  the  presence  of  sixty  thousand  savages, 
headed  by  their  warriors,  giving  the  signal  for  scaling 
the  walls,  to  bury  the  contending  parties  under  their 
ruins,  grace  would  not  permit  works  to  lend  the  le-ast 
assistance  for  repelling  the  common  foe.  It  became  victo- 
rious over  the  Indians  and  Christians.  It  drove  the  first 
from  its  walls,  and  banished  the  latter  from  the  city  into 
savannahs  and  deserts,  to  procure  themselves  subsistence 
by  the  works  of  their  hands. 

In  a  word,  persecution  on  the  score  of  our  conscience* 
has  thinned  the  world  of  fifty  millions  of  human  beings, 
by  fire  and  sword.  Thousands,  who  have  escaped  the 
sword  and  fagot,  have  perished,  and  are  daily  perish- 
ing with  hunger  and  want,  for  their  mode  of  worship. 
The  London  riots,  occasioned  by  a  pretext  of  religion, 
have  added  about  four  hundred  more,  deluded  by  reli- 
gious frenzy,  to  the  enormous  number.  And  thougn  they 
suffered  as  plunderers  and  incendiaries,  yet  religious  intol- 
erance in  tneir  leaders,  occasioned  the  deluded  people's 
destruction. 

The  history  of  the  calamities,  occasioned  by  the  gospel  of 

*  See  the  History  of  Massuclmsets  Bay,  or  Boston. 


182  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

peace,  could  be  concluded  with  the  poet's  Epiphonema. — 
i  Tantum  rcligio  potuit  suadere  malorum?  '  Such  devilish 
'  acts  religion   could   persuade  !'* 

The  Quakers,  to  their  eternal  credit,  and  to  the  honour 
of  humanity,  are  the  only  persons  who  have  exhibited 
a  meekness  and  forbearance,  worthy  the  imitation  of 
those  who  have  entered  into  a  covenant  of  mercy  by 
their  baptism. — William  Penn,  the  great  legislator  of  that 
people,  had  the  success  of  a  conqueror  in  establishing  and 
defending  his  colony  amongst  savage  tribes,  without  ever 
drawing  the  sword;  the  goodness  of  the  most  bene- 
volent rulers,  in  treating  his  subjects  as  his  own  chil- 
dren; and  the  tenderness  of  a  universal  father,  who 
opened  his  arms  to  all  mankind,  without  distinction  of 
sect  or  party,  In  his  republic,  it  was  not  the  religious 
creed,  but  personal  merit  that  entitled  every  member  of 
society,  to  the  protection  and  emoluments  of  the  state.  Rise 
from  your  grave,  great  man  !  and  teach  those  sovereigns  who 
make  their  subjects  miserable,  on  account  of  their  catechisms, 
the  method  of  making  them  happy.  They,  whose  domi- 
nions resemble  enormous  prisons,  where  one  part  of  the 
creation  are  distressed  captives,  and  the  other  their  unpitying 
keepers. 

1  shall  examine  the  charter  which  is  pleaded  in  justifica- 
tion of  restraints  on  the  score  of  conscience.  The  Protes- 
tant and  Catholic  are  equally  concerned  in  the  discussion. 
Each  would  plead  for  toleration  in  his  turn  ;  and  the  honour 
of  religion,  should  be  vindicated  from  the  imputation  of 
enormities,  which  should  be  transferred  to  their  real  princi- 
ples— I  mean  the  passions  of  men,  or  their  ignorance  of  the 
limits  which  religion  itself  prescribes  to  their  power.  I  know 
the  difficultv  there  lies  in  encountering  prejudices  which  have 
a  lono-  prescription  to  plead.  1  shall  be  asked  whether  I  am 
ignorant  of  the  rescripts  of  Popes  inserting  in  the  directory 
of  the  inquisition  the  imperial  constitutions,  dooming  he- 
retics to  the  flames;  the  authority  of  Catholic  and  Protestant 
canonists,  divines,  and  Civilians,  Calvin,  Bellarmin,  Go- 
mar,  benches  of  Protestant  bishops,  who  gave  their  votes 
for  enacting  the  law  that  doomed  myself  to  transportation, 

*  Breech's  Lucretius. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  183 

and  to  death  if  ever  I  return  to  ray  native  country ;  though, 
I  am  conscious  of  no  crime  against  the  state,  but  that  crime 
of  a  legal  creation,  viz.  saying  my  prayers  whilst  others  are 
cursing!  Ami  ignorant  of  the  practice  of  ages,  which  has 
given  a  sanction  of  fines,  forfeitures,  imprisonments,  and 
death  itself,  on  the  score  of  religion  ?  A  practice,  supported 
by  the  most  learned  writers  of  every  denomination,  and 
legible  in  bloody  characters  in  the  ai.nals  of  Protestant 
states,fas  well  as  in  the  registers  of  the  inquisition  ?  I  answer, 
that  I  am  not  ignorant  of  the  sanguinary  rubric  that  first 
taught  the  manner  of  preparing  the  human  victim  for  the 
altar  of  religion,  in  honour  of  a  God,  who  instead  of  requir- 
ing such  ateacrifice,  died  on  the  cross  for  his  creatures,  and 
with  expanded  arms  prayed  for  his  enemies :  Neither  am  I 
ignorant  of  the  gloomy  ritual,  substituted  in  certain  king- 
doms in  the  place  of  the  fagot,  and  which  prescribes  the 
manner  of  stripping  the  man,  in  honour  of  a  gospel,  which 
commands  to  clothe  the  naked.  They  must  both  come  un- 
der the  same  description.  For  if  religion  authorises  to  de- 
prive a  man  of  the  means  of  supporting  life,  and  providing 
for  the  education  of  his  children,  and  the  maintenance  of  his 
family  ;  the  same  religion  authorises  to  deprive  him  of  life 
itself.  Religion  is  alleged  on  both  sides,  and  as  the  degree 
of  punishment  is  arbitrary,  and  lies  at  the  discretion  of  the 
legislator,  he  can  extend,  or  reduce  it  to  what  compass  he 
thinks  f^t;  and  it  is  well  known  that  a  speedv  death  is  pre- 
ferable to  a  tedious  agony. 

But  what  if  I  oppose  practice  to  practice  ;  pope  to  pope  ; 
doctor  to  doctor?  Without  a  cardinal's  robe,  or  a  bishop's 
rochet,  what  if  my  arguments  in  favour  of  the  rights  of  man- 
kind, should  outweigh  the  reasoning  of  the  purpled  or  mi- 
tred apologists  of  its  oppressors  ?  What  if  my  authorities 
should  prove  more  numerous  and  illustrious  than  theirs  ? 
W^hat  if  I  should  happen  to  demonstrate,  that  when  they 
allege  religion  as  a  sufficient  motive  for  the  exertion  of 
oppressive  power,  in  such  an  age,  or  in  such  a  coun- 
try; it  must  be  the  religion  of  time,  or  place,  but  not 
the  religion  of  the  gospel.  <■  Fides  temporum,  non  evan- 
4  geliontm.'* 

B    B 


184  MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS. 

Cartesius,  in  a  stove,  by  remarking  the  motion  of  the 
smoke  that  rolled  from  his  pipe,  gave  the  first  shock  to  Aris- 
totle's barbarous  philosophy,  that  kept  the  world  in  igno- 
rance for  so  many  ages.  Succeeding  geniuses  improved 
upon  the  new  plan;  until  at  last  Sir  Isaac  Newton  dispelled 
the  mist,  and  made  the  light  shine  forth  in  its  full  lustre.  I  in 
my  cell,  reflecting  on  the  revolutions  that  religion  has  occasi- 
oned, not  for  the  good,  but  for  the  destruction  of  mankind — 
revolutions  in  their  morals,  by  inspiring  them  with  mutual 
hatred  and  aversion,  by  making  them  believe  that  they 
were  dispensed  with  the  unchangeable  laws  of  love  and 
humanity,  and  deluding  them  into  a  persuasion,  that  the 
death  or  oppression  of  a  fellow-creature  on  account  of  his 
error,  was  an  agreeable  sacrifice  to  the  Divinity — I  also,  by 
a  feeble  attempt  to  overthrow  the  altars  of  an  idol,  that  has 
put  Jesus  Christ  on  a  level  with  Moloch,  and  whose  false 
oracles  persuaded  mankind,  that  the  ears  of  a  God  of  com- 
passion and  tenderness,  were  pleased  with  the  groans  of  vic- 
tims tied  to  the  stake,  or  famishing  in  dungeons,  or  hovels, 
— may  induce  others  to  enlist  under  the  banner  of  benevo- 
lence, and  pave  the  way  for  abler  hands  to  raise  the 
structure  of  human  happiness,  on  the  ruins  of  religious 
frenzy. 

Locke  has  handled  the  subject  as  a  profound  philosopher; 
Voltaire  as  a  partial  satirist  in  a  declamatory  style,  more 
with  the  view  to  censure  the  scriptures,  than  to  establish  it 
on  its  proper  grounds  :  I  am  confined  to  the  province  of  a  di- 
vine, and  in  that  quality  shall  arraign  at  the  bar  of  religion 
itself,  the  calamities  to  which  the  mistakes,  or  passions  of 
men,  have  given  rise,  under  pretence  of  vindicating  the 
Deity.  The  bigot  will  consider  me  as  a  latitudinarian, 
to  whom  all  religions  are  indifferent;  and  as  one  who  writes 
in  such  a  manner,  as  dispense  men  with  the  obligations  of 
-submitting  to  the  church.  He  is  mistaken:  I  am  not  an 
architect  who  would  build  the  edifice  of  my  faith  on  diffe- 
rent plans ;  nor  an  ambassador  who  would  sign  two  con- 
tradictory treaties  in  my  legation.  Every  person  is  bound  to 
enquire  after  the  truth,  and  when  he  finds  it,  to  embrace  its 
dictates.  If  he  neglected  it,  let  the  blame  lie  at  his  own  door, 
Let  charity  and  zeal  induce  his  neighbour  to  instruct,  and 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  185 

persuade  him,  when  there  is  a  probability  of  reclaiming  him 
from  error.  But  let  not  violence,  oppression,  and  wanton 
insults  be  used  in  order  to  compel  him.  God  has  given  him 
free  will,  and  liberty  of  chusing  either  fire  or  water.  The 
sanguinary  divines,  who  think  it  lawful  in  the  supreme  ma- 
gistrate to  inflict  a  capital  punishment,  on  misguided  religion- 
ists, (for  they  do  not  allow  one  individual  to  kill  or  oppress 
another,  on  account  of  difference  of  religion)  acknowledge 
that  heretical  and  idolatrous  kings,  should  not  be  deposed 
or  killed,  by  their  Christian  or  orthodox  subject;  because, 
say  they,  '  dominion  is  not  founded  in  grace,  but  in  free 
will.' 

I  would  fain  know,  by  what  right  Christian,  idolatrous, 
or  orthodox  kings,  can  deprive  their  heathen,  Christian, 
heretical,  or  orthodox  subjects  of  their  lives  or  properties, 
on  account  of  their  mental  errors.  But  the  scripture  com- 
mands to  obey  kings  in  ivhat  is  lawful :  and  where  does 
it  command  kings  to  kill  or  oppress  their  subjects  ?  When 
it  recommends  justice  and  mercy  to  the  rulers  of  the  earth, 
does  it  make  any  distinction  between  their  heathen,  heretical, 
or  orthodox  subjects?  The  church  disclaims  the  right  of 
the  sword,  and  the  use  of  fines  and  confiscations  to  promote 
her  spiritual  ends.  The  civil  powers  are  not  competent 
judges  of  speculative  errors.  How  come  people  then,  to  be 
oppressed  between  the  civil  powers,  and  the  established 
church  in  any  state  ?  If  it  be  answered,  that  the  established 
church  in  any  state,  can  exercise  the  right  of  the  sword,  not 
by  herself  but  by  her  magistrate.  The  death  then  of  the 
criminal,  must  entirely  lie  at  the  hangman's  door ;  and  the 
judge  who  passed  a  final  doom  on  him  has  no  share  in  the 
execution.  Away  then,  for  ever,  with  the  odious  and  falla- 
cious distinction. 

Are  the  Catholic  and  Protestant  princes  of  Germany, 
who  have  granted  a  free  exercise  of  their  religion,  to  all 
their  subjects,  worse  Christians  than  the  Catholic  and  Pro- 
testant princes  of  barbarous  times,  who  were  their  subjects' 
executioners?  The  Catholics  and  Protestants,  who  say 
their  prayers  in  the  same  church,  in  that  tolerating  country, 
are  they  worse  Christians,  than  the  Catholics  and  Protes- 
tants whom  Henry  the  Eighth  used  to  couple  together,   on 


186  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

the  same  hurdle,  and  order  to  the  place  of  execution  ?  Or 
is  the  Church  that  sees  her  children  receive  the  sacraments 
at  the  rails  of  the  sanctuary,  wherein  the  Protestant  minister, 
and  the  Catholic  priest  officiate  by  turns,  less  enlightened 
and  less  tenacious  of  her  doctrine,  than  she  was  in  the  time 
of  Pope  Innocent  the  Third?  Death,  fines,  and  con- 
fiscations, then,  on  the  score  of  conscience,  when  the  reli- 
gionists behaves  as  a  peaceable  subject,  are  the  ungraceful 
offspring  of  lawless  rule.  Tyranny  begot  it :  ignorance  fos- 
tered it:  and  barbarous  divines  have  clothed  it  with  the 
stolen  garments  of  religion. 


»«*=— 


STATE  OF  THE  CASE. 

Has  the  supreme  power  in  any  state,  a  right  to  vindicate 
the  Deity,  by  fines,  forfeitures,  confiscations,  oppression, 
or  the  death  of  men,  whose  only  crime  is  an  erroneous  re- 
ligion, which  does  not  disturb  the  peace  of  society,  whether 
they  be  Jews,  Mahometans,  Christians,  heretics  or  Catholics, 
provided  they  believe  a  supreme  Being,  and  rewards  and 
punishments  in  a  future  state ;  for  all  people  exclude  from 
civil  toleration,  those  who  confound  vice  and  virtue  in  the 
horrors  of  the  grave.  Because  the  links  of  the  society  are 
dissolved,  when  vice  loses  its  horror,  and  virtue  its  attrac- 
tions :  when  the  heart  is  steeled  against  the  fear  of  an  invisi- 
ble Judge,  and  the  conscience  is  unshackled  from  its 
bonds  ? 

Answered  in  the  negative.  For  life,  liberty,  the  power 
to  accumulate  a  fortune  by  honest  means,  &c.  are  rights 
founded  in  nature : .  and  the  rights  of  nature  are  not  reversed 
by  the  religion  founded  by  Him,  who  declares,  that  he  came 
not  to  destroy  but  to  save.  Much  less  can  they  be  re- 
versed by  civil  rulers,  who  are  born  like  other  men,  and 
who  would  not  be  distinguished  above  the  crowd,  were  it 
not  for  the  social  compact,  by  which  they  bound  themselves 
to  protect  those  rights,  and  preserve  them  inviolate.     If  they 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  J  87 

do  otherwise,  as  often  they  have  done,  and  do  to  this  very  day, 
it  is  by  a  stretch  of  power,  not  by  the  rule  of  right ;  and  their 
only  plea  is  that  mentioned  in  Tacitus,  *  Id  enim  ast  mquius 
'  quod  est  fortius.'' 

From  the  earliest  ages  the  boundaries  of  religion,  and  the 
concerns  of  the  civil  magistrate  were  kept  distinct.  If  in  the 
Jewish  theocracy  alone,  they  happened  to  be  interwoven,  and 
that  a  secession  from  the  established  religion  was  made  capi- 
tal ;  it  was  by  a  special  commission  from  God,  which  Jesus 
Christ  repealed  in  the  new  law,  as  we  shall  hereafter  prove. 
Scattered  tribes,  before  they  subjected  themselves  to  civil  in- 
stitutions, believed  in  God,  at  whose  hands  they  expected  the 
rewards  of  their  virtues,  and  dreaded  the  punishment  of  their 
misdeeds. 

Religion,  and  conscience,  its  immediate  interpreter,  were 
anterior  to  society,  and  altars  reeked  with  the  gore  of  victims, 
before  the  block  was  dyed  with  the  blood  of  malefactors, 
spilled  by  the  sword  of  the  stern  magistrate. 

For  his  security  and  defence,  man,  on  entering  into  so- 
ciety, gave  up  part  of  his  liberty  to  dispose  of  his  actions, 
his  acquisitions,  his  time,  which  in  die  state  of  nature  were 
at  his  own  disposal.  But  he  could  never  give  up  his  way  of 
thinking,  or  submit  the  dictates  of  his  conscience,  to  the  ma- 
gistrate's controul.  It  is  an  interior  monitor,  whose  voice 
cannot  be  silenced  by  human  laws,  and  which  our  very  pas- 
sions, our  inclinations,  our  temporal  interest,  can  seldom 
bribe,  how  prone  soever  we  may  be  to  the  collusive  com- 
pact. Hear  this,  O  ye  rulers  of  the  earth !  Usurp  no  autho- 
rity over  God's  inheritance.  He  alone  can  water  and  fertilize 
it  with  his  grace,  or  from  a  hidden  judgment,  not  cognizable 
by  an  earthly  tribunal,  strike  it  with  barrenness  and  sterility. 
In  this  life  you  have  power  to  kill,  or  to  save  the  body : 
but  leave  the  soul  of  man  to  the  God  who  gave  it.  Call  to 
mind  that  you  must  be  regulated  by  justice.  Illustrious  cul- 
prits, whose  authority  screens  you  from  the  rigour  of  human 
laws,  if  you  violate  the  sacred  rules  of  order,  you  are  also  to 
be  judged.  The  splendour  that  surrounds  you  made  the 
prophet  cry  out,  Ye  are  gods,  and  sons  of  the  Most  High  ; 
but  he  afterwards  eclipses  this  splendour  with  the  vale  of  death, 
ye  also  must  die.  Let  not  bleeding  victims,  and  famished  o(> 


188  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

jects,  for  the  sake  of  religion,  which  the  rulers  of  the 
earth  are  the  last  to  observe  in  their  morals,  be  presented 
to  you  by  your  judge,  who  will  call  for  your  commission, 
and  confront  you  with  the  works  of  your  hands.  The  au- 
thority with  which  you  are  invested  is  delegated  by  the 
people,  and  while  you  enjoy  it,  you  claim  the  sanction  of 
Heaven.  But  neither  Heaven  nor  man  has  granted  you  a 
power  to  punish  any  but  malefactors.  And  no  man  is  kss 
liable  to  the  imputation,  than  one  who  follows  the  dictates  of 
his  conscience.  To  him  it  is  the  oracle  of  the  Divinity. 
In  abiding  by  its  dictates,  he  imagines  to  please  his  Crea- 
tor. An  intention  to  please  God  is  no  crime.  Mistaken  he 
may  be;  but  every  mistaken  man  is  not  a  malefactor  or 
cheat. 

If  in  a  wanton  fit  of  cruelty,  you  imitated  those  African 
kings,  who  leaping  into  their  saddles,  cut  off  their  squires' 
heads  with  one  blow,  to  display  their  dexterity  ;  or  that 
Turkish  Emperor,  who,  to  show  the  limner  his  mistake  in 
painting  the  decollation  of  John  the  Baptist,  called  for  a 
slave,  and  striking  off  his  head,  compared  it  with  the  picture  ; 
saying  to  the  painter,  you  see  by  this  head,  that  the  veins  in 

that  picture  are  not  sufficiently  shrivelled would  your 

power  screen  you  from  the  guilt  of  murder  ?  If  I  am  doomed 
to  the  stake,  or  deprived  of  my  horse,  for  not  swearing  to 
what  I  do  not  believe,  the  laws  will  justify  the  informer  and 
executioner,  who  will  say  :  *  the  laws  of  your  governors  have 
*  so  decreed.'  It  is,  then,  incumbent  on  governors  to  exa- 
mine how  far  God  will  justify  themselves.  Nor  is  it  a  suffi- 
cient plea,  that  such  laws  were  made  by  others,  when  it  is  by 
their  own  authority,  they  are  put  in  execution.  It  is  equal 
to  the  individual  who  is  deprived  of  his  life  or  his  property, 
whether  it  be  by  the  highwayman  or  the  officer  of  justice, 
when  life  or  property  falls  a  sacrifice  to  the  integrity  of  his 
conscience. 

God  rejects  a  homage  which  the  heart  belies  :  and  woe  to 
the  conscience  liable  to  the  magistrate's  controul.  It  would 
be  no  longer  the  impregnable  fortress  that  should  never  sur- 
render, but  on  conviction  that  such  is  the  will  of  his  Master. 
It  would  be  the  ductile  wax,  on  which  every  new  impression 
would  erase  the  former,  and  resume  it  by  turns.     It  would 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  189 

believe  the  real  presence  in  Rome  and  Upsal.  It  would 
deny  it  in  Geneva  and  Edinburgh.  In  Paris,  it  would  hope 
for  an  empyreal  heaven,  and  joys  spiritual  and  unspeakable, 
through  the  merits  of  Christ,  in  a  future  state;  an  earthly 
paradise  and  a  seraglio  of  women,  amongst  never-fading 
bowers,  if  it  worshipped  the  great  Alia,  and  Mahomet  his 
prophet,  in  Constantinople.  It  would  worship  a  living  man 
inTartary,  and  evil  genii  in  Africa.  An  evident  proof  that 
God  has  never  granted  any  controul  to  kings  or  gover- 
nors, over  the  conscience  of  man ;  and  that  it  must  be  left  to 
itself,  and  to  the  grace  of  him  who  gave  it. 

For,  in  every  kingdom  and  government,  the  magistrates 
would  claim  the  same  power.  Every  one  of  them  believes 
himself  in  the  right;  and  should  all  of  them  be  in  the  right, 
I  am  still  in  the  wrong,  when  I  act  against  my  own  consci- 
ence ;  instead  of  making  a  sincere  convert,  they  will  only 
make  a  perjured  impostor  of  me.  Hence,  the  wise  Theo- 
doric  and  other  monarchs  would  never  confer  any  extraor- 
dinary privileges  on  those  who  conformed  to  their  religion. 
When  one  of  his  courtiers  embraced  Arianism,  (that  kind's 
religion,)  4  how  could  you  have  me  trust  you,'  said  the  mo- 
narch, 'you,  who  betray  your  conscience  and  Christ  whom 
4  you  have  worshipped  from  your  early  days  ?'  He  preferred 
steady  virtue,  blended  with  what  he  deemed  error,  to  de- 
ceitful hypocrisy,  resuming  the  mask  of  truth ;  and  never 
considered  a  man's  religion  as  a  sufficient  plea  for  excluding 
him  from  the  rights  of  a  subject. 

Must,  then,  a  magistrate  be  quite  indifferent  about  his  re- 
ligion ?  Must  he  see  it  insulted  ?  Must  he  see  error  spread, 
and  stand  by  as  a  neutral  spectator? 

By  no  means :  if  he  be  convinced  of  the  truth  of  his  reli- 
gion, far  from  being  indifferent  about  it,  his  duty  is  to  prac- 
tise it.  And  no  religion,  established  by  the  laws  of  any  state, 
be  it  ever  so  false,  is  to  be  insulted.  It  would  be  equallv 
indecent  and  ridiculous  in  a  Christian  missionary,  to  cry  out 
in  the  streets  of  Constantinople,  *  Mahomet  is  a  devilish  im- 
postor.' He  would  not  succeed  so  well  as  that  Scotchman 
who  went  to  Rome  in  order  to  convert  Pope  Ganganelli.  In 
all  appearance,  he  studied  the  revelations  well,  and  found  out 
'the  number  of  the  beast,  as  well  as  the  year  of  his  downfall. 


190  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

Accoutred  with  his  bible,  and  sure  of  success,  he  sets  off 
for  Rome;  and,  meeting  the  Pope  in  St.  Peter's  Church, 
cries  out  with  a  loud  voice  :  «  Rome  is  tlie  scarlet  whore  ; 
4  and  you  are  the  Antichrist.  Gang  awa  for  Scotland,  and  be- 
4  come  a  member  of  the  kirk.'*  The  Pope's  attendants 
requested  he  would  get  him  confined.  <  God  forbid,'  replied 
the  Pope,  i  that  I  would  punish  an  honest  man,  who  has 
4  gone  through  so  many  hardships,  for  what  he  thought  the 
4  good  of  my  soul.'  He  made  him  some  presents,  and  gave 
him  full  liberty  to  be  guided  by  his  Revelations. 

With  regard  to  the  magistrate's  duty  in  preventing  error 
from  spreading.  Error  may  be  considered  in  its  different 
stages :  either  in  its  rise  or  progress.  Montesquieu  is  of 
opinion,  that,  when  there  is  but  one  religion  established  in 
a  state,  it  lies  at  the  magistrates'  discretion  to  reject  a  new 
doctrine ;  but,  when  many  religions  have  got  a  footing  in 
the  state,  they  are  to  be  tolerated. 

The  first  part  of  this  maxim  is  observed  in  Spain  and 
Portugal :  the  second,  to  the  happiness  of  mankind,  and  the 
honour  of  religion,  is  practised  all  over  Germany,  Switzer- 
land, Holland,  &c. 

It  is  true,  the  first  beginning  of  controversy  may  be  checked 
by  a  steady  severity:  and  a  new  doctrine  may,  perhaps,  be 
eradicated  with  the  death  of  its  authors,  without  leaving 
any  seeds  of  future  innovations.  But  still  the  difficulty  re- 
curs, whether  the  misguided  religionist,  whose  opinions  do 
not  interfere  with  the  peace  of  society,  the  property  of  indi- 
viduals, and  the  rights  of  magistracy — and  which  are  less 
subjected  to  the  criterion  of  human  understanding,  being  of 
the  speculative  kind,  is  punishable  by  the  magistrate's  sword? 
Reason  combines  with  religion,  to  inform  us  that  he  is  not; 
and  the  experience  of  ages  evinces  the  impotence  of  such 
attempts.  '  The  melancholy  with  which  the  fear  of  death, 
4  torture,  and  persecution,  inspires  the  sectaries,'  says  Mr. 
Hume,  '  is  the  proper  disposition  for  softening  religious  zeal. 
4  The  prospect  of  eternal  rewards,  when  brought  near,  over- 
4  powers  the  dread  of  temporary  punishments :  the  glory 
4  of  martyrdom   stimulates  all   the   more   furious  zealots, 

*  Moore's  Travels. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  191 

'Where  a  violent  animosity  is  excited  by  oppression, 
4  men  pass  naturally  from  hating  the  persons  of  their  ty- 
4  rants,  to  a  more  violent  abhorrence  of  their  doctrine : 
4  and  the  spectators,  moved  with  pity  towards  the  supposed 
4  martyrs,  are  naturally  seduced  to  embrace  those  prin- 
4  ciples  which  can  inspire  men  with  a  constancy  almost 
4  supernatural.' 

At  all  events,  whatever  may  be  said  in  favour  of  suppress- 
ing, by  persecution,  the  first  beginnings  of  error;  no  solid 
argument  can  be  alleged  for  extending  severity  to  multi- 
tudes. Or  if  persecution  of  any  kind  be  allowed,  the  most 
violent  is  the  most  effectual.  Imprisonments,  fines,. and 
confiscations,  are  heavier  torments,  than  the  stake,  wheel, 
or  gibbet.  For  the  man  is  tormented,  but  the  error  is  not 
suppressed. 

What  is  to  be  done,  then,  in  the  first  stage  of  the  error. 
Let  the  spiritual  society,  to  whom  the  religionist  belongs, 
when  he  attempts  to  alter  her  doctrine,  correct,  admonish, 
and  exhort  him.  If  he  continues  to  be  obstinate,  let 
her  refuse  him  her  sacraments,  the  participation  of  her 
spiritual  communion,  the  communication  of  her  spiritual 
worship. — To  this  alone  her  power  is  confined  :  she  may 
caution  her  members  against  the  contagion  of  his  errors. 
Life,  limb,  the  enjoyment  of  his  estate,  the  authority  of 
a  husband,  are  founded  in  nature,  and  cannot  be  alienated 
by  any  spiritual  jurisdiction  ;  much  less  by  the  civil  ma- 
gistrate, who  is  not  a  competent  judge  of  error;  and 
whose  sword  may  pierce  the  body,  but  can  never  con- 
t'oul   the    mind. 

But  if  the  laws  of  God,  and  the  rights  of  mankind,  do  not 
permit  to  oppress  an  individual,  for  his  mental  errors ;  what 
are  we  to  say  when  numbers  of  sects  get  footing  in  a  state  ? 
Let  the  door  of  toleration  be  thrown  open  to  them  all,  and 
not  one  of  them  be  exposed  as  a  butt  to  all  the  rest.  Mutual 
hatred  will  relax,  and  the  common  occupations  and  plea- 
sures of  life,  will  succeed  to  the  acrimony  of  religious  dis- 
putations. 

In  vain  do  Calvin,  Bellarmin,  and  other  apologists  of  per- 
secution, arm  the  magistrate  with  texts  of  the  old  law, 
which   commands  to   stone   the   false  prophets  to   death, 

cc 


192  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

to  put  idolatrous  cities  to  the  sword,  and  '  to  slay  Agag 
4  before  the  Lord.'  The  Jewish  polity  is  quite  different 
from  modern  political  institutions.  God  himself  was  the 
immediate  governor  of  society,  who  worded,  by  himself, 
their  laws  and  ceremonies — who  blended  together  their 
civil  and  religious  institutions — and  who  had  an  imme- 
diate power  to  deprive  sinful  man  of  the  life  of  which 
he  himself  was  the  author.  Neither  was  it  every  false 
prophet  he  ordered  to  be  stoned,  nor  every  city  he 
ordered  to  be  put  to  the  sword  ;  but  such  prophets  as 
sprang  up  from  amongst  the  Jews  themselves,  and  such 
cities  as  belonged  to  the  Jewish  theocracy — 1  mean,  cities 
inhabited  by  Jews  who  had  been  instructed  in  his  laws 
and  ceremonies.  4  If  a  false  prophet  rise  up  amongst  you, 
*  in  those  days.'  *  The  city  which  shall  worship  gods  un- 
4  known  there  before,'  &c. 

This  was  rebellion  against  the  state  which  he  had 
taken  under  his  immediate  protection,  and  which  was  of 
so  peculiar  a  frame,  as  to  be  entirely  dissolved  by  the 
introduction  of  idolatry.  As,  if  a  set  of  preachers  got 
up  now,  and  instilled  into  the  minds  of  the  people,  a 
doctrine  that  would  overthrow  the  three  powers  of  the 
state  in  those  kingdoms,  to  introduce  a  democracy ;  or 
monarchy  into  Holland,  on  the  ruins  of  a  republican  go- 
vernment—they certainly  would  suffer  in  both  places,  not 
for  their  religion,  but  for  treason,  in  attempting  to  over- 
throw the  respective  governments. 

Hence,  the  neighbouring  cities,  plunged  in  idolatry,  which 
were  not  under  the  laws  of  the  Jewish  theocracy,  were  not 
destroyed  on  account  of  their  false  worship,  but  on  account 
of  crimes  committed  against  the  laws  of  nature,  which  had 
filled  the  measure  of  their  iniquities.  And  Agag,  a  name  so 
familiar  in  the  mouths  of  fanatical  preachers,  in  the  time  of 
Charles  the  First — and  which,  to  the  scandal  of  that  age,  and 
the  discredit  of  the  English  peers  and  cavaliers,  was  couched 
in  their  address  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  requesting  the  death  of 
Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  4  as  Samuel  slew  Agag.'  Agag,  I 
say,  was  not  put  to  death  for  worshipping  his  false  gods, 
but  for  his  cruelty  and  violation  of  the  laws  of  nations : 
6  As   thy   sword,'  says  the  prophet,  4  has   made  many    wo-. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  195 

*  men    childless,    so  your  mother  shall  be   a   widow  this 

Sensible  rewards  and  sensible  punishments  were  requisite 
for  the  Jewish  people.  It  was  requisite  to  raise  a  wall  of 
separation  between  them  and  neighbouring  nations  to  pre- 
vent the  fatal  effects  of  their  inclination  to  idolatry.  Their 
religious  worship  required  to  be  inseparably  interwoven 
with  their  civil  polity,  and  considered  the  infringers  of  the 
law  of  God  as  rebels  to  the  state,  and  enemies  of  their 
country.  Their  worship  was  an  instrument  in  the  hands  of 
God,  to  exterminate  people  polluted  with  the  most  abomi- 
nable crimes.  Hence,  afflictive  punishments  and  death  itself 
decreed  by  the  law  of  Moses,  against  Jews  fallen  into  idola- 
try, or  into  any  other  crime  contrary  to  the  law. 

Those  institutions  were  to  have  an  end  :  the  new  alliance, 
promised  in  the  old,  has  levelled  the  barrier  that  separated 
Jew  and  Gentile — uniting  both  in  the  profession  of  the  same 
faith.  It  proposes  more  sublime  and  exalted  motives  than 
those  proposed  by  the  Mosaic  law.  In  the  room  of  tempo- 
ral rewards  and  temporal  punishments,  it  has  substituted 
those  of  an  invisible  and  eternal  nature.  It  acknowledges 
no  strangers.:  it  knows  no  enemy  :  it  opens  a  door  of  mercy 
to  all,  and  an  entrance  into  its  mysteries,  without  terror  or 
compulsion.  It  is  a  delicious  fruit  that  attracts  the  eyes  of 
those  who  choose  to  view  it ;  but  never  forces  the  hand  to 
pluck  it.  Jesus  Christ  never  said  :  4  whoever  does  not  fol- 
4  low  me,    shall   be  miserable  in    this  world,  shall  be  consi- 

*  dered  as  a  rebel  to  the  state  in  which  he  lives,  unprotected 
4  by  the  laws,  doomed  to  the  fagot,  or  stripped  of  his  pro- 
'  perty.' — He  leaves  it  to  every  one's  choice,  either  to  fol- 
low or  renounce  him  :  4  if  any  one  choose  to  come  after  me.' 
4  Si  quis  VUU?  When  his  very  disciples  intended  to  quit 
him,  he  does  not  retain  them  by  compulsion,  but  says, 
in  a  gentle  manner,  4  are  you,  also,  willing  to  quit  me  ?' 
And  it  is  in  vain  to  boast  a  gospel  liberty,  when  people  are 
dragged,  by  confiscations,  forfeitures,  and  death  itself,  as 
so  many  forced    victims,   into  the  sanctuary  of  religion. 

It  is  an  abominable  palliative  to  say,  that,  though  the 
fathers  are  bad  proselytes,  yet  the  children  or  grand-chil- 
dren may  be   good  Protestants,  or  good  Catholics.     As  if 


194  MISCELLANEOUS-     TRACTS. 

the  son  should  be  put  in  the  way  of  salvation,  by  the  perjury 
and  hypocrisy  of  the  father;  religion  propagated  by  crimes, 
and  evil  committed,  in  consideration  of  the  good  which  may 
arise  from  it,  in  express  opposition  to  the  tenets  of  that  reli- 
gion which  forbids  it.  The  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  is  pro- 
posed to  all ;  and  the  more  universal  it  is,  the  less  it  employs 
terrors  or  constraints  to  enforce  obedience  to  its  injunctions. 
It  stamps  the  sentiments  of  humanity,  dictated  by  the  law 
of  nature,  with  a  peculiar  character  of  sweetness  and  charity. 

Scarce  had  its  founder  assembled  a  few  disciples,  when 
two  of  them,  storming  with  rage  for  being  refused  the  rights 
of  hospitality,  requested  permission  to  bring  down  the  fire 
of  heaven  on  the  inhabitants.  They  imagined  themselves 
in  the  times  of  Elias,  when  God  punished  with  visible  chas- 
tisements the  insults  offered  to  his  prophets.  Jesus  Christ 
undeceives  them  :  '  you  know  not  to  what  spirit  you  belong; 
4  the  son  of  man  is  not  come  to  kill,  but  to  save.'  As  if  he 
said,  both  to  them  and  their  successors  :  4  It  is  no  longer 
4  the  time  of  menaces  and  torments.  You  live  under  a  law 
'  whose  spirit  is  not  the  spirit  of  error,  but  the  spirit  of  con- 
4  fidence  and  love.  The  Master  whom  you  serve,  does  not 
4  thirst  after  the  blood  of  his  enemies;  he  does  not  choose 
4  to  see  them  at  his  feet,  in  a  fit  of  rage  and  despair. 
4  Forced  homages  are  odious  in  his  eyes  :  thunder  and  the 
4  exterminating  sword  are  not  his  arms  :  he  is  only  come  to 
4  convert  and  save  souls  :  but  not  to  destroy  or  famish  the 
4  bodies  of  men.' 

Hence,  he  has  not  given  to  those  whom  he  charged 
with  the  commission  of  extending  and  propagating  his  reli- 
gion, any  instruction  but  that  of  imitating  his  zeal,  his  pati- 
ence, and  his  charity  towards  mankind.  He  has  furnished 
them  with  no  other  means  of  making  proselytes  to  his 
religion,  but  persuasion,  prayer,  and  good  example.  The 
theocratical  government  is  no  longer  confounded  and  inter- 
woven with  civil  and  political  institutions.  The  king- 
dom of  Jesus  Christ  is  not  of  this  world  :  he  leaves  the 
^jjers  of  the  earth  the  full  enjoyment  of  their  preroga- 
tives, whether  they  know  him,  or  whether  they  blaspheme 
his  name :  and  he  leaves  their  subjects  in  full  possession  of 
tttftp  rights,  as  men. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  195 

Jesus  Christ  does  not  choose  for  subjects  but  such  as 
Freely  list  in  his  service.  Those  who  are  rebellious  to  his 
voice,  he  terrifies  with  the  punishment  of  a  future  state  ;  and 
has  not  commissioned  any  power  on  earth  to  enlarge,  by 
force,  the  boundaries  of  his  kingdom.  However  his  crea- 
tures may  be  divided  in  opinion  about  speculative  points,  he 
has  left  them  one  law  which  is  liable  to  no  interpretation,  and 
must  ever  be  interpreted  in  the  literal  sense  :  '  love  one  ano- 
4  ther ;  and  do  not  to  others,  what  you  would  not  have  others 
c  do  unto  you.' 

Calvin  and  Bellarmin's  remaining  arguments  consist  in 
similies,  and  some  misconstrued  passages  of  the  fathers,  who, 
in  their  homilies,  inveigh  against  errors  in  faith,  as  against 
adultery,  forgery,  &c.  on  account  of  the  divorce,  a  breach  of 
divine  faith  causes  between  God  and  the  Christian  soul,  and 
the  enormity  of  forging  or  counterfeiting  the  divine  creden- 
tials, with  the  hand  of  error.  But  the  disparity  is  obvious. 
Adultery,  forgery,  and  similar  crimes,  fall  immediately  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  civil  magistrate,  on  account  of  the  in- 
jury offered  to  society,  by  invading  the  property  of  indivi- 
duals committed  to  his  care.  The  man  who  is  in  error,  hurts 
none  but  himself.  If  others  be  milled  by  him,  it  is  their  own 
choice,  and  the  result  of  their  free  will,  over  which  the  civil 
power  has  no  controul ;  nor  the  ecclesiastical  power,  but  as 
far  as  it  can  refuse  such  persons  the  sacraments  and  the  other 
religious  symbols  of  her  communion,  which  no  other  church 
will  give  those  out  of  her  pale,  and  which  no  person,  out  of 
her  pale  \\  ill  require. 

But,  in  every  state,  is  not  blasphemy  punished,  though  of  a 
spiritual  nature  ? 

Blasphemy  is  punished,  because  it  is  an  open  irreverence  to 
the  Deity,  the  knowledge  of  whose  attributes,  and  the  dread  of 
whose  justice,  is  the  very  basis  of  civil  society.  But  an  er- 
roneous opinion,  in  religion,  can  subsist-with  the  respect  due 
to  the  Deity. 

A  man,  engaged  in  error,  proposes  to  himself  to  serve 
God  in  the  manner  he  thinks  most  pleasing  to  the  Sovereign 
Being.  Though  he  mistakes  the  right  road,  yet  his  inten- 
tion is  sincere.  Moreover,  blasphemy  involves  a  breach  of 
manners,  which  has  a  natural  tendency  to  disturb  the  peace 


196  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

of  society.  A  friend  takes  offence,  if  his  friend  is  abused  in 
his  presence ;  a  brother,  if  his  brother  is  used  in  an  indecent 
manner. 

A  Jewish  rabbin  may  preach  in  his  synagogue,  that  the 
Messiah  is  not  yet  come,  and  extricate  himself  as  well  as  he 
can,  by  doing  away  the  weeks  and  days  of  the  prophet  Da- 
niel. No  Christian  can  blame  him  :  for4  we  all  know  that  it 
is  the  man's  belief;  and  that  he  is  sincere,  though  in  error 
at  the  same  time.  But  this  Jew,  convinced  that  Christ  is 
respected  by  the  Christians,  and  worshipped  by  them,  as 
their  God,  would  expose  himself  to  the  rigour  of  the  magis- 
trate, if  he  openly  called  Christ  an  impostor :  because  he  in- 
sults the  magistrate  more  than  if  he  gave  this  denomination 
to  his  father  or  brother. 

The  most  monstrous  absurdity,  then,  that  ever  met  with 
apologists  in  church  or  state,  is  the  misdirected  zeal  that 
punishes  the  body  for  the  sincerity  of  an  erroneous  con- 
science. Whereas,  no  person  deserves  more  the  severity  of 
human  laws,  than  the  impostor  who  betrays  it.  The  divines 
themselves,  whose  forced  interpretations  of  scripture,  and 
theological  disputes,  have  armed  sovereigns  against  their  sub- 
jects, agree  that  no  person  can  act  against  the  immediate  dic- 
tates of  an  erroneous  conscience.  Hence,  the  Jew,  who  is 
under  a  conviction  that  Christ  is  not  God,  would  be  guilty  of 
gross  idolatry,  if,  from  motives  of  worldly  interest,  he  wor- 
shipped him  with  the  Christians.  In  punishing  him  for  not 
worshipping  Christ,  you  punish  the  candour,  sincerity,  and 
uprightness  of  a  deluded  man,  who  is  afraid  to  offend  his 
Creator.  The  same  can  be  said  of  all  others  who  dissent 
from  any  established  religion. 

But  I  will  be  told,  that,  in  reasoning  thus,  I  renounce  my 
own  creed  ;  whereas  the  rescripts  of  Popes,  the  establishment 
of  the  inquisition,  and  numberless  texts  of  the  canon  law,  re- 
lating to  heretics,  shew  what  a  Catholic  clergyman  ought  to 
believe. 

I  have  already  declared,  and  sufficiently  proved,  that  the 
rescripts  of  all  the  Popes  that  ever  sat  in  Peter's  chair,  or  ever 
will,  can  never  make  an  article  of  faith  for  Roman  Catholics  ; 
no  more  than  a  king  of  England's  proclamation  can  make  an 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  197 

article  of  faith  for  English  Protestants,  though  he  is  head  of 
their  church. 

Positive  laws  and  human  establishments,  temporary  sanc- 
tions and  local  regulations,  are  no  creeds,  nor  articles  of* 
religion:  and,  happy  for  the  honour  of  the  Protestant 
religion  in  these  realms,  that  they  are  not.  No  Catholic 
divine  ever  attributed  such  power  to  a  general  council,  as 
Sir  William  Blackstone  attributes  to  the  British  Parliament. 
*  It  can  change,'  says  he,  '  the  religion  of  the  land,  and  do 
'every  thing  under  heaven,  that  is  possible.'  If  all  its  acts 
were  to  be  considered  as  articles  of  faith,  (as  some  paltry 
scribblers  would  fain  obtrude  on  the  public,  the  texts  of  the 
canon-law,  and  the  rescripts  of  Popes,  as  articles  of  Catholic 
belief,)  the  world  has  never  seen  such  a  religious  creed. 

The  reader  would  see,  in  Gothic  characters,  imprison- 
ment and  death  decreed  against  the  priest,  for  saying  his 
prayers ;  to  pervert  or  be  perverted  to  the  see  of  Rome, 
punished  as  high  treason  ;  a  second  refusal  to  take  the  old 
oath  of  supremacy,  liable  to  a  similar  punishment.  He 
would  see  the  neighbour  authorised  to  take  his  neighbour's 
horse  ;  the  son  authorised  to  strip  the  father  of  his  property  ; 
the  articles  of  Limerick,  under  the  solemn  faith  of  a  capi- 
tulation, violated  without  the  least  provocation  on  the  part  of 
the  inhabitants.  From  those  he  would  pass  to  others  of  less 
importance.  He  would  see  a  solemn  act  of  the  legislature, 
commanding  women  to  declare  their  own  shame,  and  making 
it  high  treason  in  them  to  marry  the  king,  if  they  were  not 
virgins,*  another  making  it  high  treason  in  people  who  saw 
the  nuptial  rites  performed,  and  the  monarch  go  to  the  nup- 
tial bed  with  his  spouse,  to  believe  that  he  was  married  to 
Anne  of  Cieves. 

The  Catholic  orator,  who  would  fain  be  on  equal  terms 
with  his  Protestant  brother,  either  in  the  pulpit  or  in  print, 
would  amplify  his  theme,  enumerate  the  circumstances,  and 
in  a  long  strain  of  invective,  hold  forth  that  it  is  a  principle 
of  the  Protestant  religion,  to  persecute  to  death  those  of  a 
different  religion  ;  to  encourage  disobedience  and  rebellion  in 
children  to  their  parents ;  to  rob  a  man  of  his  property  ;  to 
violate  the  laws  of  nations  ;  to  be  so  incredulous  as  not  to  be- 

*  Sec  the  monstrous  Acts  of  Parliament,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII 


198  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

lieve  their  own  eyes ;  and  to  administer  to  the  passions  and 
lust  of  their  kings :  than  to  produce  extracts  of  their  statutes, 
in  corroboration  of  the  charge,  and  to  cast  those  horrors  on 
all  the  Protestants  in  the  world ! 

The  candid,  impartial  man,  would  be  more  nice  than  to 
confound  the  actions  of  men,  and  their  positive  laws,  with 
the  principles  of  the  Protestant  religion.  And  candour 
should  induce  the  ministers  of  the  gospel,  not  to  revile  the 
body  of  Catholics,  by  extending  local  regulations,  exagge- 
rating facts,  and  erecting  the  mistakes  and  prejudices  of  a 
few,  into  a  religious  creed  and  a  symbol  of  orthodoxy  for  the 
whole. 

Those  laws,  then,  that  doom  heretics  to  death,  as  well  as 
the  establishment  of  the  inquisition,  are  no  parts  of  a  Ca- 
tholic's creed ;  no  more  than  the  fore-mentioned  acts  of  par- 
liament are  part  of  the  church  of  England's  creed. 

The  true  religion  should  be  preserved  and  perpetuated  by 
the  same  means  that  established  it — by  preaching  the  word 
of  God,  attended  with  prudence  and  discretion — the  practice 
of  all  Christian  virtues — boundless  peace  and  charity. 

Machiavel  is  of  opinion,  that  'disarmed  prophets  never 
'  made  any  conquests.'  Whatever  respect  is  due  to  him,  on 
account  of  his  skill  in  sanguinary  politics  and  literature,  in 
this  maxim  he  betrays  equal  ignorance  and  impiety.  No 
prophet  ever  appeared  more  destitute  of  arms  than  Jesus 
^Christ :  no  prophet  ever  made  such  rapid  and  extensive  con- 
quests— I  mean  conquests  such  as  he  intended  to  make,  by 
winning  the  hearts,  changing  the  interior  dispositions  of  men, 
and,  from  bad  and  wicked,  making  them  better  and  more 
virtuous. 

The  Christian  religion  gained  ground  under  the  heathen 
emperors,  in  the  midst  of  the  most  violent  persecutions, 
during  three  centuries. 

The  reverend  gentlemen,  who  thought  it  lawful  for  kings 
to  handle  the  sword,  in  vindication  of  the  Deity,  should  have 
recollected  that  all  the  fathers,  during  five  centuries,  took 
this  famous  saying  of  Tertullian  for  their  motto :  '  Non  est 
*  rehgionis,  religioncm  cogereJ'  It  is  not  the  province  of  re- 
ligion, to  force  religion:  it  is  needless  to  crowd  my  page  with 
them.     St.  Gregory  the  Great,  who  lived  in  the  sixth  ceii- 


MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS.  199 

tury,  and  knew  the  obligations  of  religion,  as  well  as  any  of 
his  successors,  writes  to  a  bishop  who  had  beaten  one  of 
his  clergy  for  heresy,  that  it  is  an  unheard  of  and  novel 
method  of  preaching  the  Gospel,  to  enforce  faith  with  the 
cudgel. — '  Nova  et  inaudita  pr&dicatio,  quce  baculo  adigit 
jidem.'  No  heretics  more  dangerous  in  a  state  than  the 
Pri>cillianists,  whose  maxim  was — to  swear  and  forswear 
themselves,  sooner  than  betray  their  secrets.  Their  doc- 
trine was  condemned  in  a  Council  in  Spain,  but  their 
persons  left  at  liberty.  Two  Spanish  bishops,  Ithacus  and 
Ursatius,  solicited  the  tyrant  Maximus  to  put  Priscillian  to 
death.  Hence  St.  Martin  of  Tours,  and  all  the  bishops  of 
Gaul  and  Spain,  would  never  communicate  with  those 
sanguinary  prelates,  who  were  afterwards  banished.  Even 
a  council  that  was  held,  would  not  admit  any  bishop  who 
would  communicate  with  one  Felix,  who  concurred  in  the 
accusation  of  Priscillian,  and  whom  the  fathers  call,  '  a  mur- 
derer of  heretics.' 

The  Council  of  Toledo  forbids  the  use  of  violence  to 
enforce  belief:      'because,'    add  the    fathers,    'God  shews 

*  mercy    to  whom   he    thinks  fit ;    and  hardens    whom    he 

*  pleases.' — '  Prcecipit  sancta  synodus  nemini  deinceps  ad 
'  credendum  vim  inferre.  Cui  enim  Dens  vulty  miser etur ; 
1  et  quem  vult,  induraV*  And  the  Council  of  Lateran, 
under  Pope  Alexander  the  Third,  acknowledges,  that  the 
church  rejects  bloody  executions,  on  the  score  of  religion : 
which  proves  to  demonstration,  that  the  canon  charged  to 
the  fourth  Council  of  Lateran,  under  Innocent  the  Third— 
in  Which  canon  'the  secular  powers  are  addressed  to  make 
'  an  oath,  to  extirminate  all  heretics  out  of  their  territo- 
'  ries,  and,  in  case  ot  refusal,  to  have  their  subjects  absolved 
'  from  their  allegiance,  and  the   lands  of  the  heretics   to  be 

*  seized  by  the  Catholics,'  &c. — is  spurious.  Collier,  the 
Protestant  historian,  in  his  fifth  volume  of  ecclesiastical 
history,  acknowledges  that  it  is  not  found  in  any  copy 
coeval  with  the  Council.  Some  hundred  years  after  the 
Council,  it  was  produced  to  light  by  a  German  :  and  we 
know  full  well,  that,  at  that  time,  several  spurious  pieces 
were  produced,  to  serve  the  purposes  of  rancour. 

*  Cap.  de  JucLeis,  dist.  43. 
D  D 


20tf  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

Were  even  such  a  decree,  or  any  other  of  a  similar  nature, 
genuine,  the  Catholics  would  reject  them,  without  any  breach 
of  faith :  because  the  church  has  no  power  over  life,  limb, 
the  rights  of  sovereigns,  the  property  of  individuals,  or  any 
temporal  concern  whatsoever.  Her  bishops,  then,  whether 
separately,  or  in  a  collective  body,  cannot  graft  any  such 
power  into  their  spiritual  commission.  They  would  act  in 
an  extrajudicial  manner,  and  beyond  the  limits  of  their 
sphere.  This  I  have  proved  in  my  Kemarks  on  Mr.  Wesley's 
letters,  and  elsewhere. 

Far  from  countenancing  cruelty,  death,  and  oppression, 

*  the  spirit  of  the  church  was,  in  such  a  manner,  the  spirit  of 
'  meekness  and  charity,  that  she  prevented,  as  much  as  in  her 
4  power,  the  death  of  criminals,  and  even  of  her  most  cruel 

*  enemies,'  says  Fleury.  *  You  have  seen  how  the  lives  of  the 
'  murderers  of  the  martyrs  of  Aunania  were  saved  ;  and  St. 

*  Austin's  efforts  to  preserve  the  Donatists  (who  had  exer- 

*  cised  such  cruelties  against  the  Catholics)  from  the  rigour 

*  of  the  Imperial  laws.  You  have  seen  how  much  the  church 
4  detested  the  indiscreet  zeal  of  those  bishops,  who  persecuted 
1  the  heresiarch  Priscillian  to  death.     In  general,  the  church 

*  saved  the  lives  of  all  criminals,  as  far  as  she  had  power.    St. 

*  Augustine  accounts  for  this  conduct,  in  his  letter  to  Mace- 
'  donius,  where  we  read,  that  the  church  wished  there  were 
'no  pains  in  this  life,  but  of  the  healing  kind,  to  destroy  not 
1  man,   but   sin,   and  to  preserve  the   sinner  from   eternal 

*  torments.'* 

If,  in  after  ages,  some  Popes  and  bishops  deviated  from  this 
plan  of  meekness  and  moderation,  their  conduct  should  not 
involve  a  consequence  injurious  to  the  principles  of  the  Ca- 
tholic church,  which  condemns  such  proceedings.  The  re- 
ligion of  Catholics  and  Protestants  condemns  frauds,  fornica- 
tions, drunkenness,  revenge,  duelling,  perjury,  &c.  Some  of 
their  relaxed  and  impious  writers  have  even  attempted  not 
only  to  palliate,  but  even  to  apologize  for  such  disorders. — 
The  children  of  the  Christian  religion  daily  practise  them  : 
is  the  Christian  religion  accountable  for  the  breach  of  her 
own  laws? 

*  Fleury,  Discourse  2,  No.  9- 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  201 

We  prefer,  then,  the  primitive  fathers  of  the  church,  to 
Sylvester  a  Prieris,  and  some  other  canonists :  and  we  pre- 
sume as  much  knowledge  and  zeal  for  the  Catholic  religion 
in  Gregory  the  Great  and  his  predecessors,  as  in  any  of  his 
successors,  in  ages  less  refined. 

The  opposition  given  in  Catholic  countries  to  the  esta- 
blishment of  the  inquisition — the  death  of  the  inquisitors  by 
the  hands  of  the  people — and  the  general  odium  it  raised — 
prove  that  sparks  of  the  moderation  and  meekness  recom- 
mended in  the  Gospel,  and  practised  in  the  primitive  times, 
with  regard  to  people  of  a  different  persuasion,  were  not  quite 
extinct,  even  in  the  ages  of  darkness  and  barbarism.  Popes 
themselves  opposed  its  introduction  into  Venice  :  and  whe- 
ther from  policy  or  piety,  I  shall  not  take  on  me  to  deter- 
mine. 

But  Berkley  remarks,  that,  '  if  policy  induced  a  Pope  to 
1  oppose  its  introduction  in  a  certain  state,  policy  might  have 
*  induced  another  Pope  to  introduce  it  into  his  own.'*  I  am 
convinced  he  was  not  mistaken  in  his  conjectures. 

The  Pope  was  in  possession  of  a  city  which  formerly  gave 
birth  to  so  many  heroes,  besides  a  good  territory  bestowed  cfi 
him  by  several  sovereigns.  He  thought  it  high  time  to  look 
about  him,  when  all  Europe  was  in  one  general  blaze.  The 
liberty  of  the  Gospel,  preached  by  Muncer  and  several  other 
enthusiasts,  threw  all  Germany  into  a  flame,  and  armed  boors 
against  their  sovereigns.  As  he  was  a  temporal  prince,  he 
dreaded  for  his  sovereignty,  as  well  as  other  crowned  heads 
in  his  neighbourhood  ;  and  the  more  so,  as  his  soldiers  were 
better  skilled  in  saying  their  beads,  than  handling  the 
musket. 

Great  events,  the  downfal  of  empires,  and  the  rise  or  de- 
struction of  extraordinary  characters,  are  commonly  foretold 
in  oracles,  both  sacred  and  profane ;  and  he  found  himself  m 
the  same  dubious  and  critical  situation  with  Montezuma, 
when  the  Spaniards  landed  in  America. 

"  Old  prophecies  foretel  our  fall  at  hand, 

•*  When  bearded  men  in  floating- «astles  land."f 

Long  before  the  reformation,  the  dimensions  of  his  city 

*  Minute  Philosopho)-.  \  Dryden's  Indian  Que«n. 


202  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

weie  taken;  the  line  was  extended  over  its  walls,;  and  it 
ware  discovered  that  it  was  the  '  great  city,  built  on  seven 
'  bills,  tin   harlot  that  had  made  the  kings  of  the  earth  drunk 

*  with  her  cup ;  and  that  her  sovereign  was  Antichrist,  the 
'  man  of  sin,'  mentioned  by  St.  Paul,  in  his  epistle  to  the 
Tiiessalonians,  Wickliff,  Huss,  and  Jerome  of  Prague,  had 
laid  down  a  rule,   many  years  before,  that  '  Popes,  princes 

*  and  bishops,  in  the  state  of  mortal  sin,  have  no  power  :' 
and  a  state  of  grace  was,  doubtless,  incompatible  with  the 
character  of  Antichrist.  Jerome  of  Prague,  who  was  burnt 
afterwards  at  Constance,  to  shew  that  Rome  was  the  harlot  of 
the  Revelations,  after  beating  a  monk,  and  drowning  another, 
cliessed  one  day,  a  prostitute  in  a  Pope's  attire,  with  the  three- 
crowned  cap,  made  of  paper,  on  her  head,  and  in  her  head- 
dress, without  being  so  careful  of  the  rest  of  her  body  ;  leads 
the  female  pontiff,  half  naked,  in  procession  through  the 
streets  of  Prague,  in  derision  of  a  religion  professed  by  the 
magistrates. 

Some  well-bred  divines  there  are,  who  justify  such  pro- 
ceedings, on  the  principle  that  it  was  requisite,  at  that  time, 

*  to  cry  aloud,  and  use  a  strong  wedge   to  break  the  knotty 

*  block  of  Popery.'  I  do  not  believe  there  is  a  well-bred 
Protestant  living,  who  wouid  applaud  either  martyr  or  divine 
who  would  exhibit  such  a  merry  spectacle  in  the  streets  of 
Dublin  or  London ;  or  who  would  shed  a  tear  for  his  loss, 
if,  after  exhibiting  such  a  show  in  Rome  or  in  Pans,  he  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  inquisition,  or  were  sent  to  the  gallies. 
The  gospel  truth  is  no  enemy  to  decency. 

St.  Paul,  in  pleading  his  cause  before  Festus,  did  not  in- 
veigh against  his  vestal  virgins,  the  adulteries  of  their  gods, 
or  the  wickedness  of  his  emperors.  Let  a  religion  of  state  be 
ever  so  false,  the  magistrate  who  professes  it,  will  feci  himself 
insulted,  when  it  is  attacked  in  a  gross,  injurious  manner : 
and,  if  iipologies  can  be  made  for  indecencies  and  seditious 
doctrines,  under  pretence  of  overthrowing  idolatry,  some  al- 
lowance must  be  made  for  men  who  think  themselves  insulted 
by  such  attacks. 

The  Pope,  then,  as  a  sovereign  prince,  had  every  thing 
to  dread,  when  the  thrones  of  the  German  princes  began  to 
totter  from  the  shocks  of  inspiration  :  but  what  still  increased 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  203 

his  alarms,  was — the  unfolding  of  the  Revelations,  which 
held  him  up  to  all  Europe,  as  the  Antichrist,  the  ge- 
neral enemy  of  Christians,  who  should  be  destroyed. 
Lest  any  one  should  miss  his  aim,  it  was  proved  from 
the  Revelations,  that  he  was  the  beast  with  ten  horns; 
and,  in  bearing  down  such  a  game,  the  world  was  to  be 
renewed,  and  the  peaceful  reign  of  the  millennium,  during 
which  Christ  was  to  reign  with  the  saints  on  earth, 
was  to  begin.  The  time  was  approaching.  Old  John 
Fox,  the  martyrologist,  says,  that  '  after  long  study  and 
4  prayers,  God  had  cast  suddenly  into  his  mind,  by  di- 
vine inspiration,  that  the  forty-two  months  must  be  re- 
ferred to  the  church's  persecution,  from  the  time  of 
4  John  the  Baptist.'  This  calculation  was  to  bring  on 
the  Pope's  destruction  about  the  year  sixteen  hundred. 
Brightraan  was  more  precise,  and  foretold  the  final  down- 
fal  of  the  Pope,  in  the  year  fifteen  hundred  and  forty- 
six :  others  in  fifteen  hundred  and  fifty-six :  and  others 
in  fifteen  hundred  and  fifty-nine.  Luther  came  closer  to  the 
famous  aera ;  and  published  his  prophecy,  in  which  it 
was  revealed  to  him,  that  the  Pope  and  the  Turk  would  be 
destroyed  in  two  years  after  the  date  ol  his  oracle.  This  cer- 
tainly, was  a  close  attack  on  the  Pope,  who  in  all  appear- 
ance, did  not  like  to  die  so  soon,  even  of  a  natural 
death.  He  apprehended  the  accomplishment  of  the  ora- 
cles the  more,  as  at  that  time  almost  every  one  was 
inspired,  and  ready  to  do  any  thing  for  the  destruction 
of  Antichrist. 

Alexander  Ross,  in  his  view  of  religion,  describes 
numbers  of  those  prophets,  and  amongst  the  rest  one 
Hermannus  Sutor,  a  cobbler  of  Optzant,  who  professed 
himself  a  true  prophet,  and  the  Messiah  Son  of  God : 
a  very  dangerous  neighbour  for  Antichrist !  This  man, 
to  receive  the  prophetic  inspiration,  stretched  himself  na- 
ked in  bed ;  and,  after  ordering  a  hogshead  of  strong 
beer  to  be  brought  close  to  him,  began  to  drink  in 
the  source  of  inspiration,  and  to  receive  the  spirit  by 
infusion;  when  on  a  sudden,  ■*  he,'  to  use  the  words  of 
Alexander  Ross,  '  with  a  Stentor's  voice  and  a  horrid 
'howling,  among  other  things,  often  repeated  this:  Kill, 
4  cut  throats,    without    any  quarter,    of  all   those  monks, 


204  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

'all  those  Popes.  Repent,  repent:  for  jour  deliverance  is 
*at  hand.'*  However  extraordinary  such  a  character  would 
appear  now,  jet  at  that  time,  inspiration  was  so  frequent, 
that  one  would  imagine  all  Germany  was  a  nation  of  pro- 
phets; and  Hermannus,  who  was  afterwards  put  to  death 
by  Charles,  lord  of  Guelderland,  had  credit  enough  to  make 
proselytes. 

The  Pope,  thus  aimed  at,  as  an  object  of  destruction, 
from  all  quarters — and  seeing,  almost  in  every  nation  in 
Europe,  a  nursery  of  prophets  foretelling  his  ruin,  and 
animating  the  candidates  for  sanctity  to  undertake  the 
pious  task — began  to  tremble,  not  only  for  his  territo- 
ries, but  moreover  for  his  personal  safety.  He  knew  that 
the  imaginations  of  his  Italian  subjects  were  naturally 
warm ;  and  that,  if  but  one  of  them  caught  the  prophetic 
flame,  the  stiletto  would  soon  be  darted  into  Antichrist. 
He  found  Imperial  laws  already  enacted,  and  as  be  was 
a  temporal  prince  whose  person  was  more  exposed  than 
any  highwayman  in  Europe,  he  copied  those  laws  into 
his  directory ;  and  erected  the  Inquisition  as  a  barrier 
between  himself  and  the  formidable  foes,  who  not  only 
foretold  his  downfal,  but  encouraged  their  followers  to  fulfil 
the  prediction. 

The  impartial  reader,  in  tracing  this  formidable  tribunal, 
will  discover  a  pelitical  establishment,  and  a  temporal  safe- 
guard. None  can  infer  from  its  institution,  that  it  is  lawful 
by  the  principles  of  religion,  to  deprive  a  man  of  his  life, 
precisely  on  account  of  his  worship :  and  every  one  must 
acknowledge,  that,  if  ever  a  prince,  whose  life  and  territories 
were  in  danger,  was  authorised  to  take  the  severest  precau- 
tions to  secure  both,  no  mortal  could  plead  for  greater  in- 
dulgence in  having  recourse  to  rigorous  measures,  than  one 
who  united  in  his  person  the  dignity  of  a  prince,  which  at 
that  time  was  both  an  object  of  envy  and  detestation  to  people 
who  considered  sovereignty  as  subversive  of  Christian  li- 
berty— and  the  character  of  a  sovereign  pontiff,  which  made 
him  pass  for  an  outlaw,  and  the  great  enemy  of  Christ,  in 
whose  destruction  the  world  was  so  deeply  concerned.  Let 
any  person  put  himself  in  his  case,  and  judge  for  himself. 

*  Ross's  Vi«w  of  Religions.     Id  the  appeidix,  p.  31. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  205 

It  is  then,  to  those  authors  who  disgraced  themselves, 
and  exposed  the  oracles  of  the  Christian  religion  to  the 
derision  of  infidels,  with  their  fanatical  calculations,  their 
beasts,  horns,  and  strained  allegories  of  seven  hills — it  is  to 
the  rage  of  people  who  could  not  take  more  effectual  steps 
to  get  him  stabbed  in  his  church  or  his  palace — and  to  the 
terrors  of  a  man  who  thought  himself  justifiable  in  provid- 
ing for  his  personal  safety — that  the  world  is  indebted  for 
the  inquisition  in  Rome.  Its  fires  are  daily  extinguishing,  in 
proportion  as  prophecy  is  diminishing ;  and  the  liberty  of 
a  refined  age  discovers  no  horns  on  the  head  of  a  Gangan- 
nelli,  or  Benedict  the  Fourteenth,  who  united  in  their 
persons  the  grandeur  of  kings,  the  discretion  of  bishops, 
the  elegance  of  courtiers,  and  the  learning  of  philoso- 
phers. 

The  two  last  prophets  I  have  read  who  have  brought  the 
Pope's  destruction  nearer  our  own  times,  are  Whiston  and 
Burroughs.  The  first  foretold  that  the  Pope's  destruction 
would  happen  in  seventeen  hundred  and  twenty-four. 
And  the  second  finding  Mr.  Whiston's  prophecy  contra- 
dicted by  time,  began  himself  to  prophecy  that  this  great  event 
was  to  happen  in  seventeen  hundred  and  sixty.  Yet,  since 
those  two  prophets  i  have  been  gathered  unto  their  father,' 
the  air  of  Rome  has  not  been  embalmed  with  the  effluvia 
of  the  smoking  blood  of  a  Jew;  and  in  Spain  and  Portu- 
gal, we  hear  no  longer  of  human  victims  being  offered  up 
as  4  a  sacrifice  of  agreeable  odour  to  the  Lord.' 

In  those  two  kingdoms,  the  inquisition  owes  its  origin  to 
causes  much  similar  to  those  which  gave  it  rise  at  Rome; 
but  causes,  however,  which  did  not  so  immediately  affect 
the  sovereign,  who  was  blended  with  the  common  mass  of 
monarchs,  without  any  peculiar  distinction  to  expose  him 
to  the  hatred  of  mankind  ;  or  to  afford  his  assassin  a  plea  of 
impunity,  bv  alleging  that  he  was  the  deliverer  of  the 
world,  by  ridding  it  of  the  enemy  of  the  Son  of  God,  de- 
scribed in  the  prophecies  of  Daniel,  pointed  out  in  the 
Revelations,  and  whose  downfall  was  foretold  at  such 
a  time,  by  the  most  celebrated  interpreters  of  scrip- 
ture. 

The  Spaniards  struggling  for  a   long  time  with  Maho- 


206s  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

met's  followers  who  had  invaded  their  country,  and  reduced 
them  not  only  to  the  most  abject  slavery,  but  moreover 
forced  them  to  supply  the  fire  of  their  lusts  with  continual 
fuel,  by  sending  an  annual  tribute  of  Christian  virgins  to 
their  seraglios,  made  at  last  that  great  effort  so  memorable 
in  history. 

It  is  well  known  that  before  the  defeat  of  the  Moors,  and 
their  total  expulsion  from  the  Spanish  dominions,  they  were 
preparing,  under  hand,  for  war,  and  had  their  leaders  already 
chosen.  Banished  for  ever  from  a  kingdom  where  they  had 
trampled  on  the  laws  which  all  Christians,  and  even  heathen 
fathers  deemed  most  sacred,  a  barrier  to  their  return  was 
erected;  and,  as  by  their  own  laws,  every  Christian  who  has 
any  connexion  with  a  Mahometan  woman,  is  to  pass  through 
the  fire,  the  tables  were  turned  on  themselves,  and  the  ex- 
pectants of  an  earthly  paradise  were  threatened  with  the 
fagot,  if  they  returned  to  initiate  the  children  of  Christians 
in  their  mysteries. 

The  most  effectual  way  to  remove  prejudices,  is — to  put 
one's  self  in  other  people's  situation.  And  if  the  establish- 
ment of  the  inquisition  seems  severe  and  unreasonable,  it 
must  be  acknowledged,  that  the  love  of  life,  and  the  abhor- 
rence of  oppression,  are  passions  that  very  often  overpower 
reason  itself.  No  man  would  choose  to  be  considered  as  an 
outlaw  on  whose  head  a  price  was  set,  and  to  whose  de- 
struction thousands  were  animated,  under  the  sanction  of 
scripture.  Neither  is  it  in  the  nature  of  Christian  Kings, 
who  often  destroy  their  own  relations,  when  they  suspect 
them  for  aspiring  to  their  throne,  to  suffer  the  sworn  ene- 
mies of  the  Gospel,  and  the  corrupters  of  the  morals  it  en- 
forces, in  possession  of  their  provinces  and  palaces,  when 
they  can  recover  what  they  deem  their  right.  It  was,  then, 
dread  of  danger,  and  love  of  liberty,  a  deep  sense  of  inju- 
ries, and  a  provisionary  caution  against  death  and  oppression, 
not  a  principle  of  religion,  that  gave  rise  to  the  inquisition 
in  Rome,  Spain,  and  Portugal.  It  is  not  from  the  church  it 
can  derive  any  power:  and  if  it  has  any  other  motive  in  view 
than  to  secure  the  peace  of  society  by  temporal  means,  it 
exceeds  the  limits  of  its  authority.  For  error  in  faith  is  not 
a  crime,  but  relatively  to  a  supernatural  order,  which  does 


MISCELLANEOUS    ^RACTS.  207 

not  come  within  the  verge  of  «civil  jurisdiction  :  and  the 
last  resource  of  the  church  is  only  a  canonical  censure. 
Those  censures  she  never  denounces,  but  against  her 
own  rebellious  children,  reared  up  in  her  bosom:  and 
with  regard  even  to  those,  she  is  boimd  to  use  the  greatest 
precaution. 

Her  spiritual  weapons  should  not  be  drawn  but  against 
the  enormities  of  individuals ;  nor  against  those,  when 
they  are  powerful  enough  to  raise  a  faction  or  party; 
nor  against  any  one,  when  it  is  probable  they  will  not 
obtain  the  end  proposed — I  mean,  the  correction  of  the 
sinner.  'With  regard  to  the  multitude,  censures  are 
'  never  employed,'  says  St.  Austin.  Exhortations,  not  com- 
mands— instructions,  not  menaces — are,  then,  her  only 
weapons.  And  when  any  of  her  popes  or  bishops  adopted 
any  other  plan,  they  consulted  more  their  power,  and 
the  rigour  of  the  law,  than  the  rules  of  prudence.  They 
behaved  like  those  hot  headed  princes,  who,  finding  a  great 
number  of  their  subjects  guilty  of  insurrection,  would  put 
them  all  to  the  sword,  at  the  hazard  of  seeing  their  king- 
doms depopulated.         ^  * 

Whence,  then,  came  those  rigorous    laws   on    the  score 
of  religion  to   be    introduced  ?     If  speculative  errors,  un- 
connected with  principles   subversive  of  subordination  and 
morality,    have    been    the   oniy    motives,  it    must    be    ac- 
knowledged,  that  they  originated  in   an  abuse   of  power, 
and  an  error  of  fact,    as    well   as  of  right,    which    made 
princes    believe    that,    as   they    were   the    arbiters   of  life 
and  death   they  could   punish  all  kinds  of  crimes,  whether 
against  God,    or  the  peace  of  civil    society.     In    matters 
more   immediately    within    the    reach  of  the  civil    magis- 
trate, the    laws  of  all  nations    afford   instances   of  power 
extending    beyond  the  limits   of  reason,   and    confounding 
the  sacred  rules   of  equity,  which   proportion   the  punish- 
ment to  the  offence.     Thus,  in   Holland,  a   suhject  forfeits 
his    life,    if  he    kill    a  stork,   when    a    few  dollars    would 
be    a   sufficient    penalty :  especially  for  a   Dutchman.     In 
England,  the  cutting   down   a    cherry-tree  in    an   orchard 
is    a  capital   offence.     And    in.  Ireland,   1    have  seen    two 
men  put  to   death — the  one,  because  a  sheep    was  found 

E  E 


2oa 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 


in  his  bain,  which  the  real  thief  had  left  there  ;  and  the 
other,  for  a  miserable  calf-skin,  which  he  bought  on  the  high- 
road, from  the  man  who  stole  it;  and  who,  doubtless, 
did  not  inform  the  purchaser  of  the  manner  in  which 
he  had  acquired  it: — when  the  laws  dictated  by  God 
himself,  decreed  no  more  than  the  restitution  of  an  ass, 
against  the  thief  who  had  stolen  one  from  his  neigh- 
bour; and  a  four-fold  restitution  against  the  man  who 
stole  an   ox. 

If  princes  and  other  rulers,  then,  magnify  objects  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  make  trifles  capita!,  in  consequence  of  their 
power,  to  which  they  imagine  no  bounds  should  be  pre- 
scribed ;  let  us  not  be  surprised  if  monarchs,  who  thought 
themselves  the  delegates  of  Heaven,  and  answerable  for  any 
crime  against  the  divinity,  which  they  would  countenance 
if)  their  state,  have  enacted  laws  which  torture  the  body  for 
the  errors  of  the  mind. 

It  was  with  difficulty  that  king  Edward  the  Sixth  was 
prevailed  on,  not  to  commit  his  sister  Mary  to  the  flames. 
For  he  could  not  reconcile  his  conscience,  to  permit  his  sister 
to  live  in  idolatry,  when  it  was  in  his  power  to  check  the 
progress  of  such  a  disorder. 

We  see,  by  the  different  edicts  against  heretics,  in  the 
Theodosian  code,  that  the  first  Christian  emperors  did  not, 
however,  consider  religious  error  as  a  sufficient  cause  for 
capital  punishment.  Constantino  grants  a  free  toleration  to 
all  Christians,  in  one  of  his  edicts:  in  another  he  restrains 
this  indulgence  to  Catholics  alone.  In  one  edict,  he  orders 
the  churches  to  be  taken  from  the  Donatists  :  in  another,  he 
moderates  the  rigour  of  this  edict,  by  permitting  them  tore- 
turn  to  their  country,  and  to  live  there  quiet;  <■  reserving 
'  to  God  the  punishment  of  their  crime.''  Remarkable  words  ! 
We  have  seen  before,  how  the  primitive  fathers  opposed 
sanguinary  executions,  and  pleaded  for  liberty  of  conscience. 
St.  Hilary  earnestly  requests  the  Emperor  Constantius  to 
grant  his  subjects  liberty  of  conscience,  whether  they  be 
Aliens  or  no 

If,  then,  in  an  age  enlightened  by  the  works  of  the  fathers, 
and  after  the  example  set  by  Constantine,  the  Emperor 
Theodosius  condemned  Maniclueans  to  the  tire;  it  must  b<* 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 


209 


more  owing  to  abominable  practices,  than  to  speculative  er- 
rors. And,  if  succeeding  emperors  continued  the  same  ri- 
gour, it  is  that  sedition  or  immorality,  or  both,  kept  pace 
and  were  incorporated  with  speculative  deviations.  Scarce 
an  age,  since  Theodosius's  time  until  of  late  years,  but 
brooded  some  immoral  or  seditious  doctrine,  which  armed 
the  magistrate's  hand  with  the  exterminating  sword.  Great 
part  of  St.  Austin's  time  was  taken  up  in  pleading  for  mercy 
with  the  African  governors,  in  favour  of  the  Donatists 
and  Crescellians,  who  continually  exercised  the  greatest 
cruelties. 

Another  age  gave  rise  to  the  Patarini  and  Runcaires,  who 
amongst  other  errors  maintained,  that  no  mortal  sin  could 
be  committed  by  the  lower  part  of  the  body.  The  theory 
was  reduced  to  practice  ;  and,  doubtless,  the  magistrate  was 
roused  to  severity. 

The  Albigenses  said  that  God  had  two  wives.  Marriage, 
however,  was  condemned,  without  considering  chastity  as  a 
virtue.  In  detestation  of  the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  churches 
were  turned  into  receptacles  for  the  unhappy  votaries  of 
venus :  and  in  the  sanctuary  where  the  magistrate  was  ac- 
customed to  see  the  minister  of  religion  officiate,  nothing 
could  be  seen  but  offerings  to  Cloacina.  In  twelve  hundred 
and  thirty,  the  Stadings  of  Germany  honoured  Lucifer;  in- 
veighed against  God  for  condemning  that  rebel-angel  to 
darkness  ;  held  that  one  day  he  would  be  re-established,  and 
they  should  be  saved  with  him.  Whereupon,  they  taught 
that,  until  that  time,  it  was  not  requisite  to  serve  God,  but 
quite  the  contrary  ;  and  reduced  their  theory  to  practice. 

To  write  the  history  ot  all  the  sects  which  gave  rise  to  the 
severe  sanctions  of  kings,  from  the  time  of  the  Emperor 
Theodosius  down  to  the  sixteenth  or  seventeenth  century, 
would  be  to  attempt  writing  a  history  of  all  the  horrors  and 
abominations  of  which  abandoned  man  is  capable.  In  this 
long  space  of  time,  the  sects  most  tree  from  any  mixture  of 
immorality,  gave  umbrage  to  the  civil  power,  by  their  sedi- 
tious tenets  and  insurrections. 

Huss's  doctrine,  in  Bohemia,  sowed  the  seeds  of  civil  wars. 
WicklifPs  doctrine,  in  England,  was  productive  of  similar 
fruits.     The  fagot  did  not  blaze  in  England  until  the  Lol- 


210  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

lards  began  to  overturn  the  state.  In  the  sixteenth  century, 
what  wars,  what  commotions,  in  Germany,  in  consequence 
of  fanatical  delusion.  The  most  moderate  Protestant  divines 
of  that  age,  complain  in  their  writings,  of  the  confusion  in- 
troduced by  sectaries.  Hcylin,  in  his  cosmography,  talks  of 
seme  of  them  '  begotten  in  rebellion,  born  in  sedition,  and 
'nui><d  by  iaction.'  And  Doctor  Walton,  in  the  preface  to 
his  Polyglote,  says,  that  '  A ristarchus- heretofore  could  scarce 
'find  seven  wise  men  in  Greece;  but  that,  in  his  time,  so 
'  n  any  idiots  were  not  to  be  found:  for  all  were  divinely 
'^earned.'  'Hence,'  continues  the  Doctor,  ' the  bottomless 
'  pit  seems  to  have  been  set  open :  and  locusts  are  come  out 
'  with  stings,  a  numerous  race  of  sectaries  who  have  renewed 
'ali  the  ancient  heresies,  and  invented  many  monstrous 
'  opinions  of  their  own.'  In  examining,  then,  the  laws  en- 
acted against  heretics,  and  tracing  them  up  to  their  origin  ; 
in  taking  a  review  of  the  times  and  .circumstances  in  which 
they  were  enacted,  and  the  tenets  of  the  persons  against 
whom  they  were  levelled — in  weighing  the  Emperor  Con- 
stantine's  words,  already  quoted — and  observing  the  insta- 
bility of  his  opinion,  in  the  change  of  his  laws — we  can,  with 
every  reason,  presume  that  error  in  doctrine  was  never 
deemed  a  sufficient  title  to  deprive  a  man  of  his  life 
or  pioperty,  by  the  most  pious  and  enlightened  Christian 
legislators. 

Immorality  or  sedition,  mingling  with  the  speculative 
opinion  unpunishable  in  itself  by  any  civil  tribunal,  drew  the 
vengeance  of  the  laws  upon  the  entire  system  and  its  abet- 
tors ;  as  the  circulation  of  bad  coin  is  punished  by  the  ma- 
gistrate, net  on  account  of  the  particles  of  gold  or  silver,  but 
on  account  of  the  base  metal,  which  predominates  and  de- 
bases it.  If  time,  civilization,  commerce,  a  more  extensive 
knowledge  of  mankind,  and  the  rights  of  society,  helped  the 
mind  to  work  off  the  feculence  of  pernicious  opinions,  as 
rough  wines  work  off  their  tartar :  freedom  of  thought,  its 
inalienable  prerogative  was  at  last  reconciled  amongst  most 
men  with  the  principles  of  morality,  and  the  peace  of  society. 
Men  have  changed,  but  long  habit  and  the  power  of  rule 
have  still,  in  many  places,  kept  up  laws  which  confound  mis- 
taken notions  of  a  spiritual  nature,  with  practical  principles 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  21  1 

which  disturb  the  order  of  society.  Heresy  is  of  too  inde- 
terminate a  signification,  to  become  the  object  of  legal  ven- 
geance. And  to  punish  a  man  for  Popery,  is  to  punish  him 
because  another  pronounces  a  word  of  three  syllables.  Let 
the  Heretic  and  Papist,  who  rob,  steal,  murder,  preach  up 
sedition,  rebellion,  and  immorality,  sutler  like  all  other 
felons.  But  the  magistrate  who  punishes  an  honest,  peace- 
able man,  for  following  the  religion  of  his  education,  and 
the  dictates  of  his  conscience  ;  and  the  legislators  who  au- 
thorise him  to  do  so  :  both  forget  themselves  and  the  rights 
of  mankind. 

The  heathen  magistrates  punished  none  for  worshipping 
many  gods.  But  we  read  of  a  city  whose  inhabitants  were 
all  drowned,  for  adopting  the  impiety  of  Diagoras,  who  was 
a  declared  atheist. 

The  Christian  magistrate  will  not  punish  a  man  who  has 
no  religion  ;  because  the  versatile  conscience  of  such  a  man 
will  mould  itself  into  any  frame.  But  the  upright  man 
who,  from  fear  of  offending  God,  will  not  resign  his  way 
of  thinking,  but  upon  a  thorough  conviction  that  he  is 
in  error;  is  deemed  unworthy  the  protection  ofjthe  laws. 
His  conscience,  which  it  Avould  be  a  crime  to  betray,  is 
made  a  crime  by  positive  institutions.  Thus,  Tiberius's 
artifice  is  revived.  It  was  prohibited  by  the  laws,  in 
his  time,  to  put  a  virgin  to  death.  A  virgin  is  accused 
of  high  treason  ;  and,  on  conviction,  (an  easy  matter  in 
his  days,)  her  virginity  is  pleaded,  in  bar  to  the  execution 
of  the  sentence ;  he  ordered  the  executioner  to  ravish  her, 
and  then  the  law  took  its  course.  Thus  guilt  and  punish- 
ment were  reconciled. 

The  laws  of  God  command  me  not  to  act  against  the  im- 
mediate dictates  of  my  conscience.  The  laws  of  man  make 
this  conformity  to  the  dictates  of  my  conscience  a  crime,  and 
I  am  accordingly  punished. 

Towards  people  confirmed  in  the  prejudices  of  their  edu- 
cation, and  the  religion  of  their  fathers,  no  severity, 
tending  to  deprive  them  of  the  rights  to  which  na- 
ture entitles  them,  should  be  used.  It  is  the  unanimous 
opinion  of  the  fathers,  and  a  large  volume  could  be 
composed  of  passages,  extracted  from  the  works  of  modern 
writers  of  every  denomination,  in  support  of  the  assertion — 


212  MISCELLANEOUS   TRACTS. 

4  We  know  that  faith  may  yield  to  persuasion  ;  but  it 
4  never  will  be  controuled.'*  'Remember  that  the  disease:-; 
*  of  the  soul  are  not  to  be  cured  by  restraint  and  viojence.'f 
4  Indulge  every  one  with  civil  toleration.'^ 

If,  to  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  the  authority  of  fathers, 
councils,  the  practice  of  the  primitive  times,  and  the  opinions 
of  the  most  learned  of  the  modern  writers,  we  add  arguments 
drawn  from  the  sources  of  divinity,  we  expect  to  disarm 
the  magistrate,  and  to  prevail  on  him  to  sheath  the  sword 
which  God  never  commanded  him  to  wield  against  the  pro- 
lessors  of  peaceable  errors. 

Faith  is  a  gift  of  God,  which  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  the 
state  either  to  give  or  take  away.    It  depends  chiefly  on  the 
change  of  the  heart,    the  interior  dispositions  of  the  mind, 
and  the  grace  of  the  Almighty,   which    it  is   in   his   power 
alone  to  give,  in  greater  or  lesser  abundance    to  his  crea- 
tures.    We  do  not  pretend  to  open  the  gate  to  error,  or  to 
lull  mortals  asleep  in  an  indifference  to  the  truth.     We  only 
beseech  the  powers  of  the  earth  not  to  add  to  the  calamities 
of  Adam's    children,  by  fines,     confiscations,  poverty,  re- 
straints, or  death,  for  abstruse  and  speculative   matters   be- 
vond  the  reach  of  human  controul.     We    know   that   God 
beinpr  everv  where  present  to  call    his    creatures    to    his 
service,  to  support  them  in  their  hope,    to  confirm  them  in 
his  love,  to  help  their  endeavours,  and  to  hear  their  prayers, 
it  is  their  own    fault  if  they    perish.     To   some  he    gives 
the  knowledge  of  his  law  ;  but   they    reject  it.     Others  he 
inspires  with  the  spirit  of  prayer:   but  they  neglect  it.     He 
speaks  to   the   hearts  of  all :  but  few   listen    to   his  voice. 
Some  he    converts    by   an    effectual    grace,     who   plunge 
themselves  a  second  time  into    their  disorders.     Some  he 
strengthens  and  fortifies  in  the  constant  love  of  order  and 
justice  to  the  last  moment  of  their  lives  :  and  others  he  gives 
lip  to  their   blindness   and  corruption.     He  permitted    the 
first  man  to  sin,   and   thus  to  involve  us  in  all  the  miseries, 
when  it  was  in  his  power  to  prevent  sin,  without   thus   de- 
stroying his  liberty.    And  this  will  ever  be  an  insoluble  diffi- 
culty to  man. 


*  Flecliier,  bishop  of  Nismes.  f  Cardinal  Camns. 

X  Fenelon  to  the  Duke  of  Burgundy. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  213 

Faith,  then,  depending  entirely  on  the  interior  dispositions 
of  the  mind,  the  quantity  of  grace,  and  the  measure  of  spi- 
ritual science,  which  it  is  in  the  power  of  God  either  to  in- 
crease, or,  from  a  just  but  hidden  judgment,  to  diminish; 
the  want  of  it  cannot  be  punished  by  any  earthly  tribunal : 
because  the  magistrate's  power  extends  only  to  outward 
crimes  that  disturb  the  temporal  peace  of  society,  but  not  to 
the  hidden  judgments  of  God,  nor  to  the  interior  dispositions 
of  the  mind,  nor  to  the  disbelief  of  divine  truths — the  neces- 
sary result  of  both.  Death,  restraints,  and  confiscations, 
then,  on  the  score  of  religion,  are  murders  and  robberies, 
under  the  sanction  of  mandatory. 

*  We  were  of  opinion,'  says  St.  Austin,  writing  to  the 
Manicheans,    '  that  other  methods  were  to  be  made  choice 

*  of;  and  that  to  recover  you  from  your  errors,  we  ought  to 
1  persecute  you  with  injuries  and  invectives,  or  any  ill  treat- 
1  ment ;  but  endeavour  to  procure  your  intention  by  soft 

*  words  and  exhortations,  which  would  show  the  tenderness 

*  we  have  for  you  :  according  to  that  passage  of  holy  writ — 
1  The  servant  of  the  Lord  ought  not  to  love  strife  and  quar- 
s  rels :  but  to  be  gentle,  affable,  and  patient  towards  all  man- 
4  kind ;  and  to  reprove  with  modesty  those  who  differ  from 
c  him  in  opinion.  Let  them  only  treat  you  with  rigour,  who 
'  know  not  how  difficult  it  is  to  find  out  the  truth,  and  avoid 

*  error.     Let  those  treat  you  with  rigour,  who  know  not  how 

*  rare  and  painful  a  work  it  is  calmly   to  dissipate  the  carnal 

*  phantoms  that  disturb  even  a  pious  mind.     Let  those  treat 

*  you  with  rigour,  who  are  ignorant  of  the  extreme  difficulty 

*  that  there  is  to  purify  the  eye  of  the  inward  man,  to  ren- 
4  derhina  capable  of  seeing  the  truth  which  is  the  sun  and 

*  light  of  the  soul.     Let  those  treat   you  with  rigour,  who 

*  have  never  felt  the  sighs  and  groans  that  a  soul  must  have, 

*  before  it  can  have  any   knowledge  of  the  Divine  Being. 

*  To  conclude,  let  those  treat  you  with  rigour,  who  never 
'  have  been  seduced  into  errors  near  akin  to  those  you  are  en* 

*  gaged  in. 

1  I  pass  over  in  silence,  that  pure  wisdom,  to  which  but  a 

*  few  spiritual  men  attain  in  this  life ;  so  that  though  they 
*know  but  in  part,  because  they  are  men;  yet,  nevertheless. 


214  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

*  they  know  what  they  do  know  with  certainty ;  for  in  the 

*  Catholic  church,  it  is  not  penetration  of  mind,  nor  profound 

*  knowledge,  but  simplicity   of  faith,   which  puts  men  in  a 

*  state  of  safety.'* 

To  such  an  illustrious  authority  we  shall  add  another, — 
Salvianus,  bishop  of  Marseilles,  discoursing  on  the  Arian 
Vandals,   speaks  as  follows:   'they  are  ignorant  of  what  is 

*  commonly  known  among  other  men  ;  and  only  know  what 

*  their  doctors  have  taught  them,  and  follow  what  they  have 
1  heard  them  say.     Men  so  ignorant  as  these,  find  themselves 

*  under  a  necessity  of  learning  the  mysteries  of  the  Gospel, 

*  rather   by  the   instructions  that   are  given  them  than  by 

*  books.  The  tradition  of  their  doctors,  and  the  received 
1  doctrines,  are  the  only  rules  they  follow,  because  they  know 
1  nothing  but  what  they  have  taught  them.     They  are  then 

*  heretics,  but  they  know  it  not.     They  are  so  in  our  account, 

*  but  they  believe  it  not,  and  think  themselves  so  good  Ca- 
1  tholics,  that  they  treat  us  as  heretics  ;  judging  of  us  as  we 

*  do  of  them.     We  are  persuaded  that  they   believe  amiss, 

*  concerning  the  divine  generation,  when  they  maintain  the 

*  Son  inferior  to  the  Father  ;  and  they  imagine  that  we  rob 
4  the  Father  of  his  glory,  who  believe  them  both  to  be  equal. 

*  We  have  the  truth  on  our  side,  and  they  pretend  it  on 
4  theirs.     We  give  to  God  his  honour,   and  they  think  they 

*  honour  him  better.     They  fail  in  their  duty,  but  they  ima- 

*  gine  they  perform  it  well ;  and  they  make  true  piety  cqri- 
'  sist  in  what  we  call  impious.  They  are  in  a  mistake,  but 
4  with  a  great  deal  of  sincerity  ;  and  it  is  so  far  from  being  an 
4  effect  of  their  hatred,  that  it  is  a  mark  of  their  love  of  God  ; 

*  since  by  what  they  do,  they  shew  the  greatest  respect  for 
4  the  Lord,  and  zeal  for  his  glory.  Therefore,  though  they 
4  have  not  true  faith,  they  nevertheless  look  upon  that,  as  a 
1  perfect  love  of  God.     It  belongs  only  to  the  Judge  of  the 

*  universe,  to  know  how  those  men  will  be  punished  for  their 

*  errors  at  the  last  day.'* 

1  As  to  what  is  concealed  from  the  knowledge  of  mortals,' 
says  St.  Chrysostom,  )  let  the  searcher  of  hearts  determine, 
1  who  alone  knows  the  measure  of  knowledge,  and  the  quantity 

*  Salvianus, 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  215 

'  of  faith :  whose  judgments  are  inscrutable,  and  ways  un* 
*  searchable.'* 

Religion,  then,  recoils  at  the  thoughts  of  stripping  the  vie-' 
tim  for  his  mode  of  worship.  We  should  make  allowance 
for  the  weakness  of  our  fellow  creatures ;  and  reflect  that  few 
persons  view  objects  in  the  same  light.  What  makes  a  deep 
impression  on  me,  makes  but  a  slight  impression  on  another. 
Universal  orthodoxy  has  never  been  established,  since  Cain 
has  built  the  first  city,  and  separated  from  the  children  of 
God,  nor  never  will  to  the  end  of  time. 

Amidst  the  dark  and  doubtful  images  of  things,  the  sport 
of  the  passions,  the  prejudices  of  education,  the  disputes  of 
the  learned,  and  the  clouds  that  hang  over  weak  and  fluc- 
tuating reason,  it  is  hard  to  separate  the  clear  from  the  ob- 
scure, truth  from  error,  and  to  assign  them  their  proper  si- 
tuations in  light  and  shade.  Add  to  this  what  I  remarked 
hrfore,  that  faith  is  a  gift  of  God,  to  which  the  heart  must 
be  disposed  by  the  operations  of  an  interior  grace,  which 
God  alone  can  give,  and  which  is  obtained  more  by  prayer 
than  by  disputing.  If  we  take  a  survey  of  nature  itself, 
which  God  has  given  up  to  the  disputes  of  men,  the  smallest 
insect  baffles  our  severest  scrutiny.  From  the  ant  up  to  the 
elephant,  and  from  the  germination  of  a  blade  of  grass,  to 
the  immense  bodies  that  swim  in  the  yielding  ether  above, 
every  thing  is  an  inexplicable  mystery.  The  very  soul  with 
whose  nature  we  should  be  better  acquainted,  and  from  whose 
active  powers  we  derive  our  faculties  and  judgment,  is  a 
torch  with  which  we  are  enabled  to  view  the  universe,  and 
yet  our  philosophers  know  not  where  it  shines.  Some  assign 
the  brain  for  the  seat  of  this  immortal  spirit:  others  the 
blood ;  others  the  pineal  gland ;  and  others,  unable  to  com- 
prehend how  matter  and  spirit  can  be  so  closely  interwoven, 
as  to  form  one  compound  called  man,  assert  that  the  soul 
abides  at  a  distance  from  the  body,  and  influences  it  as  the 
sun  influences  certain  plants,  that  turn  round  and  humour  its 
motion. 

What  an  immense  library  could  be  made  up  of  all  the 
books  on  this  immortal  spark  that  animates  us !     Whether 

*  Homilia  contra  anathemati™nfp<:, 
F    V 


216  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACT3. 

it  existed  before  its  union  with  the  body — whether  it  under- 
goes the  same  fate  of  extinction — if  it  survives,  whether  it 
goes  to  the  silent  shades  of  the  dead,  naked,  or  clothed  in  a 
thin  pellicle,  imperceptible  to  the  anatomist's  eye,  but  quali- 
fying it  in  the  other  world  for  feeling  the  smarting  sensa- 
tions excited  by  tormenting  fire,  which  otherwise  could  not 
affect  a  pure  spirit,  without  having  recourse  to  an  extraordi- 
nary power,  the  miraculous  exertion  whereof  is  spared  by 
this  coat  of  imperceptible  skins,  cut  for  the  spirit  in  a  philo- 
sopher's brain — the  soul's  state  and  residence  in  the  long  in- 
terval between  death  and  the  final  consummation  of  all 
things — 

Burnet,  the  learned  author  of  the  Theory  of  the  Earth, 
laughs  at  the  purgatory  of  the  Catholics ;  but  strikes  into  a 
path  in  which  few  Protestant  divines  would  choose  <o  take 
him  for  their  guide.  He  admits  none  to  the  clear  sight  of 
God,  until  after  the  resurrection ;  heaps  up  testimonies  to 
vindicate  prayers  for  the  dead ;  establishes  Kades,  a  recepta- 
cle for  souls,  and  a  middle  state  where  they  expect  the  com- 
ing of  Christ,  and  the  sound  of  the  last  trumpet.* 

If,  from  ourselves,  and  nature  that  surrounds  us,  we  make 
an  excursion  into  the  region  of  mysteries,  with  what  dark- 
ness has  not  God  overspread  '  the  face  of  the  deep  !'  What 
disputes  between  Catholic  and  Protestant  writers  on  one  side, 
and  the  Arians  and  Socinians  on  the  other,  about  the  divine 
generation  of  the  Son  of  God  !  What  a  deluge  of  blood  spilt 
on  that  occasion,  when  the  Arians  were  supported  by  power- 
ful emperors,  who  drew  the  sword  to  decide  the  con- 
troversy ! 

Should  one  of  the  Bramins  come  amongst  us,  and  after 
studying  our  languages,  sit  down  to  read  the  scriptures,  to 
consult  our  writers,  and  to  determine  upon  the  choice  of  a 
religion,  what  a  laborious  task  !  From  the  time  of  Pelagius, 
down  to  our  days,  what  disputes  about  original  sin  !  How- 
could  it  be  propagated  to  a  child  whose  body  could  not  sin, 
whose  soul  came  pure  from  its  Creator's  hands,  whose  father 
and  mother  were  purified  themselves  from  original  stain, 
and  guiltless  in  complying  with  the  institutions  of  God  and 

*  In  his  Book  De  Stalu  Mortuorura  ct  Resurgentium, 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  217 

nature.  Let  this  Bramin  read  the  works  of  the  divines  of 
the  church  of  England,  in  favour  of  infant  baptism,  he  will 
regret  his  not  having  been  consecrated  to  God  before  the  use 
of  his  reason.  When  he  reads  the  Anabaptist  divines  against 
infant  baptism,  he  will  rejoice  that  he  did  not  enter  too  soon 
into  a  covenant,  whereof  he  did  not  know  the  conditions 
and  terms. 

When  Barclay  published  his  apology  for  the  Quakers,  he 
cut  out  a  good  task  for  the  divines  of  the  church  of  England, 
who  were  obliged  to  display  their  erudition  in  order  to  re- 
fute him. 

If  from  baptism  we  pass  to  the  Lord's  supper,  what 
difficulties  to  encounter  !  What  arguments  against  the  real 
presence  by  Zuinglius,  Calvin,  Du  Moulins,  Claude,  Til- 
lotson !  And  what  formidable  opponents  have  not  those 
writers  to  engage,  in  the  persons  of  Luther  and  the 
Lutheran  divines ;  Bossuet,  Arnauld,  and  the  numerous 
tribe  of  Catholic  divines  !  Text  for  text ;  reason  for  rea- 
son. Assailants  and  defendants  take  their  weapons  from 
the  same  arsenal,  and  handle  them  with  surprising  address 
and  skill. 

If  the  church  of  England  be  consulted  on  the  important 
mystery,  her  answer  only  puzzles  and  perplexes  : 

'  What  is  the  inward  part  of  the  Sacrament? 

*  The  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  verily  and  indeed  received 
'  by  the  faithful.' 

For  as  Doctor  Burnet  remarks,  the  divines  who  com- 
posed the  liturgy,  had  orders  to  leave  it  as  a  speculative 
point,  not  determined  ;  in  which  every  person  was  left  to 
the  freedom  of  his  own  choice.*  If  the  divines,  after  search- 
ing the  Scriptures  and  Fathers,  call  philosophy  to  their 
assistance,  Mr.  Locke,  one  of  its  oracles,  will  tell  them, 
that  the  idea  of  body  and  the  idea  of  place,  are  so  closely 
connected,  that  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  one  body  in  two 
different  places  at  the  same  time.  Cartesius,  who  was  the 
first  that  dispossessed  Aristotle  of  his  throne,  Gassendi,  that 
famous  priest,  who  revived  and  improved  Epicurus's  system 
of  atoms,  Cassini,  and  thousands  beside,    were  as  well  ac* 

*  History  of  tlie  Reform .  b.  3. 


218  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

quainted  as  Locke,  with  the  nature  of  place  and  bodies,  and 
doubtless  his  superiors  in  knowledge  of  the  mathematics; 
yet  they  could  discover  no  contradiction  in  the  same  body 
being  in  different  places  at  the  same  time,  when  once 
they  supposed  the  interposition  of  infinite  power,  and  the 
pliancy  of  space  and  matter,  to  the  irresistible  will  of 
omnipotence,  which  can  either  create  or  annihilate  them. 

Thus,  after  a  laborious  excursion  into  the  provinces  of 
philosophy  and  theology,  the  philosophical  divine  must 
return  back  to  the  first  elements  of  logic  and  grammar, 
that  treat  of  the  modes  of  speech ;  and,  from  the  com- 
bination of  time,  place,  circumstances,  the  nature  of  the 
testament,  or  last  will  of  a  man  on  the  eve  of  his  death, 
(but  a  man  who  united  in  the  same  person,  the  sinless 
weakness  of  humanity,  with  the  power  and  nature  of  the 
Godhead,)  determine  whether  he  spoke  in  a  literal  or 
figurative  sense.  For  place  and  body,  matter  and  space, 
are  incomprehensible  riddles  which  the  greatest  philoso- 
phers are  at  a  loss  how  to  unravel.  The  sensations  of 
cold,  hunger,  thirst,  pain,  and  pleasure,  convince  us  suf- 
ficiently that  we  have  bodies,  whose  daily  decay  we  are 
continually  repairing  with  sleep  and  aliment.  We  are,  in 
like  manner,  convinced  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  place, 
when  we  remove  from  the  fireside  to  bed,  where,  locked 
up  in  the  close  arms  of  sleep,  we  are  for  a  while  in  an 
intermediate  state  between  life  and  death :  dreaming  some- 
times that  we  are  sovereigns,  swaying  the  sceptre  of  autho- 
rity; and  at  other  times  trembling  under  the  hands  of  the  exe- 
cutioner, who  has  the  axe  in  his  hand  to  sever  the  head  from 
the  body,  or  the  rope  to  strangle  us  :  alternately  enjoying 
the  grandeur  of  kings,  and  undergoing  the  punishment 
of  criminals,  without  the  reality  of  either.  The  different 
impressions  we  receive  from  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  scorch- 
ing flames,  and  refreshing  springs,  make  us  believe  that 
there  are  other  bodies  in  nature,  besides  those  frail  machines 
we  carry  about  us. 

In  a  word,  sensations  from  within,  and  impressions  from 
without,  concur  to  convince  us  that  there  are  places  and 
bodies.  The  arguments  of  divines,  and  the  severity  of  hu- 
man laws,  in  support  of  those  arguments,  consigning  those 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  210 

bodies  to  prison,  death,  banishment,  or  hunger,  are  colla- 
teral proofs  that  we  have  those  bodies,  and  that  we  feel 
their  existence  by  means  of  painful  sensations.  Yes ;  the  im- 
mortal Berkley,  bishop  of  Cloyne,  has  proved  by  arguments 
hitherto  unanswerable,  that  there  is  no  demonstration  for 
the  existence  of  one  single  body  in  nature.  He  has  recon- 
ciled the  Catholic  and  Protestant  philosophers  and  divines, 
about  the  real  presence,  by  cutting  oft",  at  one  blow,  both 
body  and  place. 

Our  whole  life,  according  to  this  system,  adopted  by 
several  learned  men,  is  but  one  continual  scene  of  delu- 
sion. Objects  we  never  saw,  during  the  day  time,  are 
present  to  us  in  our  sleep,  and  make  a  deep  and  lasting 
impression.  Who  knows,  then,  but  all  the  actions  we  per- 
form, when  we  imagine  ourselves  awake,  are  real  dreams? 
We  are  spirits  created  millions  of  years  before  the  Mosaic 
account. 

In  that  pre-existent  state,  we  gloried  too  much  in  our 
knowledge ;  and,  as  a  just  punishment,  we  are  given  up 
for  a  short  time  to  dreams  and  deceptions,  not  on  earth, 
or  in  corruptible  bodies,  for  there  are  no  such  things,  and 
whoever  says  there  are  such  things,  can  never  prove  this 
assertion :  but  the  great  theatre  on  which  we  play  the 
sportive  farce,  is"  nothing  else  but  God's  immensity,  which 
can  never  fall  within  the  reach  of  corporeal  organs,  eyes, 
ears,  hands,  &c.  for  the  existence  of  such  organs  is  a  mere 
delusion. 

Origenes,  the  most  learned  of  the  fathers,  who  wrote  six 
thousand  books,  and  was  complimented  by  Porphyry,  the 
heathen  philosopher,  was  of  opinion,  that  the  souls  of  men 
were  angels,  who,  in  the  great  conflict  between  the  good 
and  bad  spirits,  observed  a  strict  neutrality,  and  were 
doomed  to  corruptible  bodies,  in  order  to  try  their  sincerity. 
Had  Origenes  been  as  well  versed  in  philosophy,  as  our 
modern  writers,  he  would  have  confined  himself  to  spirits, 
and  granted  bodies  no  existence  in  the  class  of  beings. 

Happy  for  millions  were  the  philosophers'  system  founded 
in  reality,  and  that  we  had  no  bodies  !  For  the  disputes  of 
theologians  have  destroyed  and  famished  a  good  part  of  the 
creation.  We  have  every  respect  for  the  Christian  religion 
and  its  ministers  of  all   denominations,  and    without   any 


220  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

doubt,  for  that  system  in  which  we  have  had  the  happiness 
of  being  reared  up.  But  we  are  extremely  sorry  that  reli- 
gion has  ever  been  made  a  pretext  for  persecution  or  op- 
pression. 

We  have  taken  the  liberty,  in  the  course  of  this  treatise, 
to  glance  at  some  religious  as  well  as  philosophical  systems, 
to  shew  the  weakness  of  reason,  and  the  impossibility  of 
establishing  universal  orthodoxy. 

Should  this  treatise  fall  into  the  hands  of  any  of  our 
legislators,  in  whose  power  it  is  to  ease  the  necks  of 
their  inoffensive  subjects  from  the  galling  yoke  of  op- 
pression ;  we  expect  from  their  wisdom  and  feelings,  that 
they  will  no  longer  consider  difference  in  religion  as  a 
sufficient  reason  for  hindering  the  young  gentleman  from 
purchasing  a  pair  of  colours,  and  fighting  the  battles  of 
his  king  and  country ;  the  industrious  citizen  from  realizing 
the  fruits  of  his  labour,  in  getting  landed  security  for  his 
money,  and  purchasing-  an  estate,  descendible  to  his  chil- 
dren ;  the  physician,  the  opulent  farmer,  the  man  of  pro- 
perty, from  carrying  a  gun,  a  sword,  a  case  of  pistols, 
for  their  defence  from  the  attacks  of  the  midnight  as- 
sassin or  highwayman ;  the  clergyman,  who  instils  the 
principles  of  good  morals  into  the  minds  of  the  ignorant 
who  would  follow  the  fierce  instinct  of  savage  and  un- 
cultivated nature  if  they  were  deprived  of  their  pastors, 
from  the  protection  of  the  laws,  which  now  leave  them 
exposed  to  the  caprice  and  fury  of  every  ruffian,  in  whose 
power  it  is  to  shut  up  their  chapels,  and  get  them  trans- 
ported :  When  it  is  obvious  that  such  restraints  arise  from 
speculative  points  disputed  on  a  narrow  ridge  by  the  greatest 
men  the  world  ever  produced — when  philosophers  them- 
selves are  bewildered  in  their  notions — and  when  the  learned 
are  at  variance,  about  matters  far  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
bulk  of  mankind. 

Should  it  be  said  that  these  laws  are  seldom  put  in  force; 
it  can  be  answered  that  the  liberty  of  the  subject,  which  is 
the  birth-right  of  man,  should  not  depend  on  the  capricious 
benevolence  of  his  neighbour.  The  law  should  be  the  com- 
mon mother  whose  arms  should  be  open  to  all ;  and  the 
ghost  of  intolerance,  more  destructive  than  Attila's  sword, 
should  vanish  on  the  approach  of  the  rays  of  benevolence, 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  221 

which  are  now  blazing  all  over  the  continent.  Attila's 
sword  destroyed  but  such  as  it  met  in  its  way  :  but  the  rage 
of  religious  feuds  has  thinned  the  world  of  fifty  millions  of 
human  beings;  and  is  stili  trampling,  in  these  kingdoms,  on 
compassion,  on  equity,  on  national  interest. 

In  Ireland,  where  such  scandalous  scenes  have  not  been 
exhibited,  as  last  vear  in  Scotland  and  England,  the  ghosts 
of  chose  legislators  who  enacted  the  penal  code,  are  still 
looking,  with  a  clouded,  malevolent  joy,  over  the  long  wastes 
and  desolated  pastures  they  have  made  in  a  fruitful  country ; 
and  supplying  the  want  of  sword  and  fagot,  with  a  more 
lasting  and  tedious  torment — I  mean,  the  hunger  and  dis- 
tresses of  thousands.  They  have  renewed  and  perpetuated 
the  torments  invented  by  the  former  princes  of  Tuscany, 
They  make  the  living  expire  in  the  arms  of  the  dead. 

The  liberality  of  the  times,  the  interest  of  the  kingdom, 
the  wisdom  and  humanity  of  our  rulers,  every  thing  cries 
aloud  for  the  repeal  of  the  laws  enacted  on  the  score  of  con- 
science. If  subordination  and  policy  require  what,  in  every 
country,  is  called  a  religion  of  state,  though  in  fact  an  en- 
croachment on  the  natural  rights  of  man,  when  it  excludes 
from  him  the  privileges  to  which  he  is  entitled  by  nature: 
yet  this  happy  system  of  toleration  should  be  introduced  by 
excluding  in  this  kingdom  the  Catholics  from  any  high 
oilices  under  the  crown  :  secondly,  from  the  privilege  of  sit- 
ting in  the  senate  :  thirdly,  if  the  use  of  arms  gives  any  um- 
brage, from  the  privilege  of  carrying  them,  except  to  such 
as  have  a  mind  to  serve  their  country  in  the  army,  or  such 
persons  as  are  possessed  of  a  real  personal  estate,  amounting 
to  whatever  value  the  legislature  thinks  fit  to  determine: 
all  other  laws,  heretofore  enacted,  to  be  null  and  void. 
The  kingdom  would  soon  flourish:  and  the  brilliant  ex- 
ample, set  to  such  princes  as  have  not  as  yet  thrown  open 
the  gates  of  toleration,  would  rescue  mankind  from  the 
heavy  yoke  which  misconstrued  religion  has  laid  on  their 
necks. 

The  Author  of  nature  intended  men  for  society  ;  and  eiv 
titles  every  man  to  the  advantages  of  that  condition,  who  is 
free  from  all  principles  and  practices  injurious  to  the  civil 
.good  of  society.     The  great  Giver  alone  can  repeal  the  uni- 


222  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

versal  charter.  He  has  not  done  it :  and  I  hope  that  I  have 
sufficiently  proved  that  he  has  not  delegated  that  power  to 
any  of  his  creatures. 

The  rulers  of  the  earth,  whether  Catholics  or  Protestants, 
owe  all  social  benefits  to  their  loyal  subjects  of  every  deno- 
mination. If  one  of  these  powers  withhold  their  people's  na- 
tive rights,  it  is  no  excuse  for  the  other,  that  their  conduct 
is  countenanced  by  their  neighbours'  example.  Honour,  hu- 
manity, and  the  rights  of  mankind,  should  suggest  to  modern 
legislators  to  repair  the  losses,  caused  by  their  predecessors' 
misguided  zeal.  And  as  the  clergy  of  all  denominations, 
consider  themselves  the  delegates  of  heaven,  and  invested 
with  the  commission  to  prescribe  a  mode  of  worship  to  man, 
let  them  propose  it  in  a  manner  that  may  secure  its  triumph 
over  the  heart;  brighten  it  up  with  the  genial  rays  of  hu- 
manity, benevolence,  and  love,  and  not  cloud  it  with  the 
sullen  gloom  of  severity,  oppression,  and  distress.  For 
Christ  who  is  the  Creator  of  all,  has  not  declared  in  his 
gospel,  that  one  should  be  excluded  from  the  protection  of 
the  laws,  and  persecuted  for  his  worship  ;  and  the  other  au- 
thorized to  famish,  starve,  and  insult  the  weakness  of  a  fel- 
low creature. 


MR.  O'LEARY  S  DEFENCE  ; 


CONTAINING 


A  VINDICATION  OF  HIS  CONDUCT  AND  WRITINGS 

DURING  THE   LATE  DISTURBANCES  IN  MUNSTER. 
WITH  A 

FULL  JUSTIFICATION  OF  THE 

AND  AN  ACCOUNT  OF  THE 

RISINGS  OF  THE  WHITE  BOYS. 


TOGETHER  WITH 


MR.  O'LEARY'S  ANSWER 

TO   THE 

FALSE  ACCUSATIONS  OF  THEOPHILUS, 

AND  THE  ILL-GROUNDED  INSINUATIONS 
OF  THE 

MIGHT  REV.  DOCTOR  WOODWARD, 

LORD  ETSHOP  OF  CLQYNE* 


THE 


INTRODUCTION. 


Whoever  attempts  to  give  an  account  of  public  transac- 
tions should  be  above  the  reach  and  power  of  hope  and  fear, 
and  all  kinds  of  interest ;  that  he  may  always  dare  to  speak 
truth,  and  write  of  all  without  prejudice,  religiously  observ- 
ing never  to  abuse  the  public  faith,  but  to  guard  against  the 
bias  and  affections  of  those  who  would  endeavour  to  impose 
on  him  by  false  or  exaggerated  reports.  He  should  not  con- 
fine himself  to  a  bare  recital  of  the  actions  of  men,  but  to  lay 
open  the  motives  and  principles  from  which  they  took  their 
rise,  and  upon  which  they  proceeded  to  their  final  issues. 
When  in  public  transactions  in  which  all  parties  are  con- 
cerned, some  persons  make  themselves  more  conspicuous 
than  others,  it  is  not  barely  sufficient  to  mention  their  names. 
The  hearts  of  such  actors  must  be  laid  open.  The  reader 
must  be  let  into  their  most  important  motives  and  designs, 
and  favoured  with  a  sight  of  those  secret  springs  which 
moved  them  with  enterprise  whether  it  succeeded  or  mis- 
carried. He  should  be  disinterested  himself,  and  attribute 
no  bad  motive  to  persons  whose  actions  could  bear  a  favoura- 
ble construction  ;  when  he  is  convinced  that  they  had  no  in- 
terest in  interfering  in  those  scenes  of  disorder  and  tumult 
which  he  chooses  for  the  subject  of  his  narrative. 

Upon  those  principles  Doctor  Woodward  should  have 
proceeded  when  he  introduces  me  on  the  stage  after  his  ac- 
count of  the  disturbances  in  the  south  of  Ireland ;  distur- 
bances which  disgraced  the  nation,  by  the  manner  in  which 
they  were  heightened  in  the  foreign  prints,  painting  us  in  3 
state  of  barbarism  and  rebellion,  and  which  however  unjusti* 
fiable,  yet  borrow  (in  the  county  of  Cork  at  least)  their  im. 
portance  more  from  the  colourings  of  exaggerating  writer? 


226  THE  INTRODUCTION. 

than  from  any  signal  or  singular  event  which  would  suit  the 
dignity  of  the  historian's  pencil,   whose  office  it  is  to  pro- 
nounce the  destiny  of  the  great  ones  of  the  earth  ;  to  fix  their 
character  with  posterity,  to  do  justice  to  virtue  and  worth, 
end  to  admit  no  figures  into  his  historical  group  but  the  figures 
of  the  great  and   illustrious.     It   is  true  that  public  transac- 
tions should  be  recorded,  though  the  characters  which  ap- 
peared on  the  scene  are  far  from  being  illustrious.     The  Ro- 
man historians  have  transmitted  to  posterity  the  war  of  the 
slaves.     And  the  Right  Reverend  Bishop  of  Cloyne  has  fa- 
voured the  public  with  a  general  account  of  the  operations  of 
the  Minister  rabble.     But  he  differs  widely  from  the  patterns 
after  whom  he  should  have  copied :  for  however  unworthy 
of  the  historian's  pen  the  exploits  of  shabby  heroes  may  ap- 
pear, yet  when  he  hands  their  achievement  down  to  poste- 
rity, he  should  paint  them  in  their  proper  colours,  and  range 
them  under  their  respective  banners.     When  Tacitus  de- 
scribes the  revolt  of  the  Pannonian  legions,  incited  to  sedition 
by  Persennius,  a  common  soldier,  and  the  Captain  Right  of 
his  time,  he  informs  his  readers  of  that  incendiary's  profes- 
sion.    But  when  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne  promises,  in  his  title- 
page,  *  A  general  Account  of  the  Insurrections  of  the  South 
*  of  Ireland,    with  their  rise  and  progress,'  he  leads  all  his 
warriors  into  the  field  in  the  same  uniform.     They  are  all  a 
Popish  mob   disarming  Protestants  to  overthrow  the  esta- 
blished religion.     In  this  assertion  I  shall  take  the  liberty  of 
differing  in  opinion  from  the  Bishop,  with  the  same  freedom 
that  Lesley,  a  dissenting  minister,  contradicted  Archbishop 
King,  when  that  prelate  wrote  his  History  of  the  State  of  the 
Protestants  in  Ireland  under  James  the  Second  ;  and  as  Be- 
verly Higgins,  a  gentleman  of  the  established  religion,  differed 
widely  in  opinion  from  Bishop  Burnet,  when  he  wrote  the 
history  of  his  own  times. 

Happy  !  if  I  could  discover  nothing  reprehensible  in  the 
Bishop  of  Cloyne's  pamphlet,  but  historical  inaccuracy  !  It 
would  affect  me  no  more  than  some  of  the  stories  of  Heredo- 
tus,  who  was  so  liable  to  misinformation.  For  a  mob  is  a 
mob,  whether  they  be  Protestants  or  Papists.  A  Popish  mob 
may  crop  horses  and  burn  ricks  of  corn  in  Ireland :  and  a 
Protestant  mob  may  burn  houses  and  attempt  to  plunder  the 


THE    INTRODUCTION.  227 

bank  in  London.  It  is  the  crime,  not  the  religion  of  the 
criminal,  which  disturbs  the  peace  of  society,  and  is  punished 
by  the  judge. 

But  when  in  the  Bishop's  pamphlet  I  see  myself  personally 
attacked,  and  (what  concerns  me  more  than   any  personal 
injury)  my  religion  glanced  at  as  inconsistent  with  the  secu- 
rity of  the  state.     When  I  see  Catholic  prelates,  who  are  an 
ornament  to  the  age,  wounded  by  an  intimation  that  their 
allegiance   to  their  king  in  temporals  is  a  prevarication  of 
their  obedience  to  their  supreme  pastor  in  spirituals.     For 
here,   according  to  Doctor  Woodward's  inuendo,  perjury 
must  be  the  alternative:    if  they  swear  allegiance  to  the 
Pope,  they  cannot  swear  allegiance  to  the  king :    if  they 
swear  allegiance  to  the  king,  they  cannot  swear  allegiance 
to  the  Pope — still  they  swear  allegiance  to  both;  perjury 
then  is  inevitable.     A  dreadful  dilemma  arising  from  a  con- 
secration oath,  translated  into  English  for  the  purpose  of 
perplexing   the  ignorant,  and  left  unexplained  for  the  pur- 
pose of  rendering  venerable  prelates  obnoxious  to  the  pub- 
lic.    When  1  see  Doctor  Woodward  one  of  the  pilots  of  the 
vessels  of  the  established  religion  hanging  out  the  signal  of 
distress,  and  crying  aloud  on  the  deck,  'The  Church  of  Ire- 
•land  is  at  this  present  moment  in  imminent  danger  of  sub- 
*  version.'     From  whom?   From  the  dissenters  ready  to  pull 
down    an    ecclesiastical  establishment,  and    the    Catholics 
ready  to  set  up  their  own.     That  is  to  say,  from  two  classes 
of  subjects  more  interested  m  improving  thirty-nine  acres  of 
ground  for  the  support  of  their  families,  than   in  abolishing 
the  thirty-nine  articles  of  Bishop  Woodward's  profession  of 
faith,  which,  (however  founded  in  the  Scriptures)  thousands 
of  Protestant  divines  all  over  Europe  would  not  subscribe. 
When  1  now  see  the  three  great  classes  of  High-churchmen, 
Dissenters   and   Catholics,  whom  I   have   formerly  seen  to 
drown   their  religious  distinctions  in  the  noise  of  the  alarm 
drum,  and  march  under  the  same  banners  to  protect  the  beds 
of  their  wives,  and  the   cradles  of  their  children  against  the 
common  foe. — When  I  see  them  now  disunited,  (if  they  were 
mad  enough  to  be  disunited  by  the  croaking  of  controversy, 
and  in  speculative   points  which  puzzle  the  mind,  to  forget 


228  THE    INTRODUCTION. 

social  friendship  which  cheers  and  warms  the  heart.)*  When 
I  see  them  disunited,  or  on  the  eve  of  a  rupture  in  conse- 
quence of  this  alarming  proclamation,  truths,  ivhich  at  otheY 
times  should  be  kept  in  silence  for  the  preservation  of  harmony, 
must  now  be  brought  to  public  notice,  1  am  at  a  loss  what  to  say. 
By  such  a  declaration  the  Bishop  acknowledges  that  his 
pamphlet  is  not  calculated  to  preserve  harmony,  otherwise 
he  would  have  been  silent;  or  his  words  are  a  riddle  which 
must  be  unravelled  by  a  greater  CEdipus  than  Mr.  O'Leary. 

However,  as  the  unhappy  disturbances  in  the  South  of 
Ireland  have  afforded  a  pretext  for  the  dissolution  of  this 
harmonv  which  reigned  amongst  the  natives  of  this  kingdom 
a  few  years  before  ;  and  as  the  Catholics  in  general,  as  well 
as  Mr.  O'Leary  in  particular,  have  been  misrepresented,  the 
following  defence,  in  which  the  insurrections  are  mentioned, 
is  humbly  submitted  to  the  judgment  of  the  public.  If  Mr. 
O'Leary  speaks  of  himself,  it  is  because  he  is  personally  at- 
tacked. Every  man  who  is  put  on  his  defence,  must  do  the 
same.  In  the  course  of  his  defence  he  will  hold  up  the 
historical  mirror. 

If  it  reflects  any  specks  on  the  faces  of  some  who  may  be- 
hold it,  let  them  attribute  their  deformity  to  themselves. 
Truths  shall  guide  my  pen,  and  the  historian  must  be 
impartial. 

If  I  enter  more  deeply  into  the  subject  than  I  first  in- 
tended, it  is  in  order  to  shew  by  every  proof  which  moral 
evidence  can  afford,  that  the  Catholics  of  this  kingdom  could 
not  form  any  design  against  either  church  or  state,  as  has 
been  maliciously  insinuated  in  several  pamphlets.  The 
Bishop  of  Cloyne  has  given  the  profile ;  I  shall  draw  the 
face  in  full. 

*  Mr.  CLeary  hopes  that  none  will  cavil  at  these  words,  as  if  uttered  by  a  latitudi- 
narian.  He  is  a  steadfast  Catholic;  but  is  no  more  inclined  to  quarrel  with  any 
person  on  account  of  his  religion,  than  to  quarrel  with  him  en  account  of  the  colour  of 
his  clothes. 


MR.  W  LEAHY'S  DEFENCE. 


The  unprovoked  attack  made  on  my  character  was  for  a 
long  time  a  mystery  to  others  as  well  as  to  myself.  The  pe- 
rusal of  several  pamphlets  at  length  enabled  me  to  unfold  it. 
The  murmurs  of  the  lower  orders  against  proctors  and  tithe- 
canters,  induced  the  authors  of  several  publications  (some 
of  them  were  beneficed  clergymen)  to  wish  for  some  other 
mode  of  supporting  the  clergy,  less  oppressive  to  the  poor 
than  the  collection  of  tithes  attended  with  continual  litiga- 
tions, but  equally  advantageous  to  the  clerical  profession, 
and  more  honourable,  as  it  would  remove  every  occasion  of 
dispute  between  pastors  and  their  parishioners.  This  plan, 
however  countenanced  by  the  ablest  men  in  England,  and  by 
many  sensible  men  of  the  established  church  in  Ireland, 
made  Theophilus  mad,  and  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne  somewhat 
angry.  The  alarm  bell  was  rung  by  Theophilus,  and  the 
presses  began  to  teem  with  the  Bishop's  pamphlets.  Some 
batteries  were  to  be  erected  to  defend  the  usual  mode  of  col- 
lecting tithes.  And  on  the  walls  of  the  church  was  planted 
the  rusty  cannon  of  popery  to  fire,  and  give  notice  of  the 
approach  of  the  enemy.  It  was  laid  down  as  a  maxim,  that 
in  the  Catholic  church  the  clergy  enforce  the  payment  of 
tithes  jura  divino  ;*  and  that  the  clergy  of  the  church  of 
Rome  would  resume  the  tithes  with  the  assistance  of  foreign 
powers.  This  master-piece  of  generalship  (if  I  may  use  a 
word  which  I  cannot  find  in  Johnson's  Dictionary)  succeeded. 
What  Lord  Clarendon  said  of  the  reign  of  Charles  the  First, 
was  verified  in  eighty-seven.     The    Papists  were  the  most 

*  See  Theophilus, 


230  llllSCtiLLANfiOUS    TRACTS. 

common  place,  and  the  butt  against  which  all  the  arrows 
were  directed.  Ghilinis's  letter  and  the  Bishop's  consecra- 
tion oath  were  roused  from  their  dusty  pillows,  and  stripped 
of  their  long  Roman  dress  were  introduced  into  every  circle 
in  an  English  garb.  The  arrival  of  those  foreigners  alarmed 
several  on  their  first  appearance,  as  much  (and  with  as  much 
reason)  as  the  tidings  of  the  arrival  of  eight  hundred  Jesuits 
mounted  on  dromedaries,  alarmed  the  citizens  of  Lon- 
don in  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Second,  though  the  mes- 
senger who  frightened  others  knew  that  he  was  secure  from 
the  danger. 

It  happened  that  in  order  to  reclaim  by  reason  people 
who  had  shaken  off  the  yoke  of  authority,  I  told  the  white- 
boys  that  if  they  had  grievances  to  complain  of,  the  legisla- 
ture alone  was  competent  to  redress  them ;  informing  them, 
at  the  same  time,  that  no  power  on  earth  would  permit  any 
set  of  men  to  overturn  established  laws  by  private  autho- 
rity.* The  word  grievances  alarmed  the  Bishop,vfor  reasons 
unknown  to  me,  but  best  known  to  himself.  This  was  the 
the  signal  of  war,  as  if  my  conduct  and  writings  had  been 
incentives  to  sedition.  Every  advantage  was  taken  of  me. 
But  it  is  now  time  to  repel  force  by  force,  and  to  recover  the 
ground  of  which  my  aggressors  have  taken  possession  during 
my  careless  inactivity. 

Pray,  then,  my  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyae,  and  you  Theo- 
philus,\vhose  mouth,  like  that  of  Palinurus,  is  better  qualified 
for  blowing  that  trumpet  which  you  have  thrust  into  mine, 
tuba  ciere  viros  martemque  accendere  cantu.  On  what  ground 
can  you  bring  the  charge  against  Mr.  O'Leary  ?  Can  you 
oround  it  on  my  writings  ?  You  have  garbled  them  ;  you 
have  mangled  them;  you  had  models  to  copy  after.  And 
imitation  is  no  bad  help.  A  man  attempted  once  to 
denv  the  resurrection  by  the  same  texts  that  establish  the 
belief  of  it.  He  succeeded  by  adding  a  monosyllable, 
and  placing  a  point  of  interrogation  in  the  room  of  a  full 
stop,  and  transposing  a  word.  Text  runs  thus  i—Surrexit. 
JVon  est  hie.  He  is  risen.  He  is  not  here.  The  literary 
magician  got  rid  of  the  difficulty  by  punctuating  and  trans- 
posing the.  words  in  the   following  manner: — Surrexit  ne? 

*  The  letff  rs  may  he  seen  in  the  Appendix, 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  231 

Noil.  Est  hie.  Is  he  risen  ?  No.  He  is  here.  There  is 
ingenuity.  And  by  his  skill  in  mangling  phrases  the  Bishop 
of  Cloyne  changes  the  way  of  the  cross  is  the  road  to  the 
crown,  into  sedition 

When  I  come  to  the  vindication  of  my  writings,  I  shall 
show  more  of  the  Bishop's  ingenuity  in  scattering  limbs, 
Which  I  shall  restore  to  their  proper  places.  Doctor  Wood- 
ward and  I  live  in  the  same  country.  Can  he  stand  forth,  and 
arnign  my  conduct  ?  • 

The  disturbances  took  their  rise  in  the  diocese  of  Cloyne, 
about  the  month  of  September,  1785.  I  never  had  been  in 
that  diocese  but  twice  on  a  visit  to  Mr.  Roche  of  Trabuigan, 
who,  about  two  years  before  the  disturbances,  had  retired  to 
Naples  for  the  benefit  of  his  health.  I  had  no  acquaintances 
in  the  diocese  of  Cloyne,  except  the  Protestant  and  Catholic 
gentlemen  of  consequence.  And  however  great  my  esteem 
for>  and  the  confidence  I  repose  in  them,  I  am  not  so  di- 
vested of  common  sense  as  to  put  myself  in  their  power  ;  it 
Would  be  the  means  of  losing  their  esteem. — Want  of  pru- 
dence, sayb  Lord  Littleton,  is  often  times  want  of  virtue. 
And  I  would  forfeit  my  claim  of  both,  if  I  urged  a  deluded 
multitude  to  their  destruction  by  encouraging  them  to  fly 
in  the  face  of  the  established  laws,  and  to  deprive  any  per- 
son of  the  property  secured  to  him  by  the  state.  For  whom 
does  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne  take  me  then,  when,  in  his  Post- 
script, interlarded  with  the  garbled  passages  of  my  addresses, 
he  throws  out  insinuations  so  injurious  to  my  character,  and 
attempts  to  palliate  and  extenuate  those  insinuations  under 
the  thin  gause  of  a  saivo.  I  do  not  say  that  the  reverend 
author  intends  to  sow  sedition,  but  if  such  were  his  design  ?.* 
will  any  man  of  sense  be  satisfied  with  the  excuse  of  a  mo- 
nosyllable but  or  iff  I  am  not  acquainted  with  the  lower 
classes  in  his  diocese,  though  they  know  me  from  cha- 
racter, as  a  man  more  inclined  to  lead  them  into  the  path 
of  subordination  and  peace,  than  to  goad  them  to  mad- 
ness. 

I  have  renounced  every  claim  to  tithes  by   sacred  vows. 

*  Bishop  of  Cloyne's  Pamphlet,  p.  103. 
H   H 


232 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS, 


The  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  then  may  rest  satisfied  that  I 
never  intended  to  sow  sedition  from  a  rapacious  view  to  his 
ecclesiastical  revenues,  and  that  I  can  frankly  say  with  par- 
son Adams  to  his  brother  Trulliber,  in  Fielding's  Joseph 
Andrews,  Nihil  habeo  cum  porcis.  I  have  no  call  to  your 
tithe  pigs. 

The  Bishop  and  the  public  must  then  acknowledge,  that  I 
was  in  no  manner  whatever  interested  in  tithes,  much  less  in 
fomenting  riots  and  disorders.  But  common  sense  and  pru- 
dence must  acknowledge,  that  a  person  in  my  situation  could 
not  with  propriety  stand  by  as  an  indifferent  spectator  of  tu- 
mults and  disorders  which  threatened  the  peace  of  the  com- 
munity, and  which  I  well  foresaw  would  be  construed  by  ma- 
levolence into  a  Popish  confederacy  against  the  state,  as 
Theophilus  has  since  construed  it.  Neither  does  the  Bishop 
of  Cloyne  contradict  him  in  the  short  and  partial  account  he 
has  given  in  his  pamphlet  of  risings  which  he  attributes  to  a 
Popish  mob. 

From  one  parish  in  the  diocese  of  Cloyne,  the  disturbances 
began  to  spread  to  another,  and  as  bad  example  seldom  ends 
where  it  first  began,  the  contagion  at  last  reached  the  bor- 
ders of  the  diocese  of  Cork  ;  and  as  a  gangrene  that  eats  its 
way  from  the  extremities  of  the  body  to  the  very  vitals. — 
Captain  Right's  proclamations  made  their  way  to  the  very 
heart  of  the  city,  about  five  months  after  they  had  been  pub- 
lished in  the  diocese  of  Cloyne.  On  a  Sunday  morning  a 
seditious  notice  was  posted  (and  breathing  nothing  but  a 
downright  disrespect  to  the  clergy)  on  the  gate  of  the  parish 
chapel,  inviting  such  as  found  themselves  oppressed  by  pam- 
pered Theologians,  whose  God  ivas  their  belly,  and  whose  re- 
ligion iv  as  a  hogshead  of  wine,  (the  very  words  of  the  notice) 
to  meet  at  an  appointed  hour  in  order  to  regulate  their  pit- 
tance according  to  the  Gospel  rule.  That  very  day  I  was 
going  on  business  to  the  country,  when  to  my  surprise  I  met 
with  numbers  of  common  people  reading  a  similar  notice 
posted  up  against  the  gate  of  my  own  chapel.  Was  it  med- 
dling with  the  politics  of  the  Protestant  country,  as  the  Bishop 
of  Cloyne's  favourite  Theophilus  upbraids  me,  to  make  war 
upon   disorder   and  licentiousness  f    Or  is   it  because  the 


MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS.  233 

Bishop  of  Cloyne  was  silent  and  passive  during  the  tumults 
which  had  changed  his  diocese  into  a  scene  of  disorder  and 
anarchy,  that  I  should  be  silenced  by  the  clamour  of  sedition 
sounding  the  trumpet  at  the  threshold  of  my  chapel?  I  de- 
ferred my  excursion,  and  at  every  congregation  from  eight 
to  one  o'clock,  I  enlarged  upon  the  scandal  and  impropriety 
of  such  proceedings,  pointed  out  to  the  common  people  the 
danger  to  which  they  exposed  themselves,  the  confusion 
in  which  they  were  involving  the  community ;  and  made 
use  of  the  most  persuasive  arguments  in  my  power  to  re- 
claim them  to  their  duty.  If  I  deserved  to  be  compared  to 
any  illustrious  character,  it  is  not  to  Mark  Anthony  working 
upon  the  passions  of  the  multitude,  in  order  to  arm  against 
Brutus  and  his  confederates,  that  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne 
should  have  compared  me.  If  he  intended  a  compliment, 
and  wished  to  temp'  my  vanity,  of  becoming  a  boaster,  he 
should  have  compared  me  rather  to  Junius  Biesus  appeasing 
the  Pannonian  legions,  who  had  been  urged  to  revolt  against 
their  officers  by  a  common  soldier  called  Persennius,  the 
Captain  Right  of  his  days. 

I  thought  it  my  duty  both  as  a  loyal  subject,  a  clergy- 
man, and  a  member  of  civil  society,  to  contribute  to  the 
preservation  of  public  order,  and  to  guard  deluded  multi. 
tudes  against  destruction,  to  the  utmost  of  my  power. 

The  honour  and  interest  of  the  Catholic  body,  often  mis- 
represented, and  become  the  theme  of  scurrilous  or  fanatical 
writers,  were  further  incentives  to  my  zeal.  I  recollected  the 
unmerited  abuse  given  for  a  long  time  in  the  papers  to  the 
Catholics,  because  seventeen  house-keepers  in  Dublin  had 
unguardedly  signed  a  requisition  to  the  High  Sheriff  for  the 
purpose  of  convening  an  aggregate  meeting  relative  to  a  par- 
liamentary reform ;  though  I  am  confident  the  seventeen 
knew  as  little  about  the  impropriety  of  their  signing  that  re- 
quisition, and  foresaw  as  little  the  offence  it  would  give,  as 
the  High  Sheriff  himself  foresaw  that  he  would  be  attacked 
by  the  Court  of  King's  Bench.  And  as  to  the  Catholics,  in 
their  disqualified  situation,  they  could  not  with  either  pru- 
dence or  propriety,  follow  any  other  line  but  that  of  a  strict 
neutrality  in  a  political  question,  on  which  neither  the  friends 
nor  opponents  of  a  parliamentary  reform  would  acknowledge 


234  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

them  competent  to  determine.  I  heard  moreover  in  my  very 
recent  recollection,  the  false  alarm  rung  all  over  Ireland  and 
Great  Britain,  on  the  occasion  of  Mr.  O'Connor,  whose  lineal 
descent  from  Roderick  O'Connor,  the  last  Monarch  of  the 
Milesian  race,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Second,  was  pub- 
lished in  the  papers  :  the  formidable  forces  of  that  claimant 
to  the  royalties  of  his  ancestors,  forces  which  a  member  in 
the  House  of  Commons  affirmed  to  amount  to  a  thousand, 
but  which,  soon  after,  in  the  English  papers,  were  increased 
to  eighteen  thou  sand,  well  disciplined  men— another  mem- 
ber's declaration  in  the  Senate,  that  the  Protestant  interest 
was  now  at  stake,  and  that  he  would  stand  forth  its  champion  ; 
and  the  consequent  challenge  made  on  the  Minister  ot  State 
to  know  if  government  had  marched  the  army  against  King 
O'Connor.  When  I  recollected  a  private  gentleman,  at  the 
head  of  few  servants,  armed  with  spades  and  clubs,  keeping 
possession  of  a  litigated  spot  of  land,  confirmed  to  him  after- 
wards by  a  decree  of  the  Courts  of  Justice ;  when  I  recol- 
lected this  gentleman  enlarged  into  a  mighty  monarch, 
through  the  magnifying  glass  of  misrepresentation,  1  had 
every  room  to  apprehend  that  the  enemies  of  the  Ca- 
tholics would  misrepresent  them  to  government,  according 
to  their  usual  custom,  and  that  the  quarrel  between  the 
peasant  and  the  proctor  for  a  basket  of  potatos,  would  be 
misconstrued  into  a  struggle  between  the  king  and  the 
subject,  for  the  jewels  of  the  crown.  The  nobility  and 
gentry  of  Ireland  are  now  convinced  that  my  conjectures 
and  apprehensions  were  groundless,  when  they  read  the 
slanders  of  Theophilus,  and  the  pamphlet  published  by 
Doctor  Woodward. 

If  I  were  allowed  the  liberty  of  using  a  metaphor,  wild 
and  extravagant  indeed  as  to  the  manner  of  the  expression, 
but  natural  enough  as  far  as  it  may  convey  my  mean- 
ing, I  could  say,  that  my  apprehensions  on  similar  oc- 
casions were  not  the  fruit  of  fancy.  They  are  the  na- 
tural growth  of  the  county  of  Cork,  and  vegetate  in 
that  soil.  In  that  county  Machiavel's  maxim,  divide 
and  govern,  has  been  followed  for  many  years,  and  the 
plan  for  changing  the  pretended  dangers  of  Popery  into 
so    many    steps    of    the     political     ladder     whereby    to 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  235 

ascend  to  power  and  consequence,  had  been  for  many- 
years  invariably  pursued.  The  Catholics,  excluded  from 
the  senate  and  councils  of  the  nation,  could  not  be 
known  to  every  English  nobleman  who  came  here  to 
manage  the  reins  of  administration,  during  a  temporary 
residence.  Chance  may  bring  him  acquainted  with  some 
individuals,  but  he  must  be  a  stranger  to  the  real  state 
and  principles  of  the  body  at  large.  The  Catholics,  then, 
could  not  be  known  to  government  but  in  the  colours  in 
which  those  persons  painted  them.  And  from  such  political 
limners,  a  just  resemblance  between  the  picture  and  the 
original,  could  not  be  expected. 

Hence,  in  the  county  of  Cork,  scarce  could  Catholics 
breathe  until  the  administration  of  the  Earl  of  Halifax  and 
Lord  Townsend,  who,  upon  a  closer  investigation  into 
their  case,  removed  the  film  with  which  the  misrepre- 
sentations of  interested  men  had  overspread  the  eyes  of 
the  former  rulers.  I  had  then  just  grounds  to  appre- 
hend that  the  disorders  of  a  motley  group  of  insurgents 
would  be  made  out  a  Popish  confederacy;  and  I  know 
that  the  silence  of  a  man  who  stood  for  his  country,  in 
the  sight,  1  may  say  of  the  enemy,  and  who  has  as  much 
influence  as  any  individual  in  his  station,  would  o«ive  a 
colourable  sanction  to  the  accusation.  Nor  (however 
plain  and  simple  in  other  respects)  was  I  so  unexperi- 
enced in  life,  or  ignorant  of  the  events  which  had  hap- 
pened in  this  kingdom,  as  to  put  myself  in  the  power 
of  my  enemies,  or  expose  myself  to  the  rigour  of  the 
law,  by  a  seditious  conduct.  I  learned  wisdom  from  the 
folly  of  others ;  and  if  I  were  inclined  to  be  seditious, 
I  knew  that  it  was  not  my  interest  to  give  my  incli- 
nations their  exertion  or  energy.  In  foreign  countries  1 
had  read  much  about  the  White-boys  in  Ireland,  and 
on  my  arrival  in  the  kingdom,  I  collected  every  in- 
formation in  my  power,  in  order  to  be  acquainted  with 
the   history  of  my  country. 

The  first  paper  I  read  after  landing  in  Cork,  was  the 
dying  speech  of  Buck  Sheehy  and  others,  who  had  been 
executed  for  Whiteboyism  at  Cloheen.  In  their  speech 
they  declared  that  their  lives  were  offered  them  on  condi- 
tion that  they  would   swear  asrainst  several  Catholic  o-en- 


23&  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

tlemen  as  confederates  and  abettors  of  Whiteboys.  And 
who  would  not  pass  for  a  Whiteboy  at  that  time,  when  one 
if  the  most  inoffensive  men  on  earth,  Doctor  M'Kenna,  the 
p  sent  Titular  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  was  escorted  under  a 
gti  ORg  guard,  on  a  pretended  suspicion  of  an  insurgent.  I 
read  of  Nicholas  Sheehy's  fate,  with  which  the  illiberal 
Theophilus  threatens  me,  and  learned  that  a  Catholic  cler- 
gyman in  all  places,  but  especially  here,  should  confine  him- 
self to  the  line  of  his  duty,  by  enforcing  morality  and  sub- 
ordination to  the  laws.  That  unfortunate  man  was  tried  be- 
fore the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  for  Whiteboyism,  and  was 
acquitted.  Sheehy,  whose  blood  his  enemies  thirsted  for,  is 
at  last  indicted  for  the  murder  of  one  Bridges,  a  man  of  no 
good  character,  whose  dead  body  could  not  be  found,  but 
whose  living  body  (if  report  be  true,  was  afterwards  seen  in 
Newfoundland.  The  dead  bodies  of  rogues  who  had  been 
murdered  in  one  kingdom,  had  been  afterwards  seen  living 
bodies  in  another,  as  so  many  enchanted  dragons,  watching 
the  Hesperian  Gardens  of  the  temple  of  Venus,  alias  bullies 
to  a  brothel.  That  this  was  Bridges's  case  I  cannot  affirm, 
but  for  the  rest,  the  history  of  the  kingdom  is  my  voucher.* 
Sheehy,  on  hearing  that  a  proclamation  was  issued  against, 
and  a  reward  offered  for  apprehending  him,  wrote  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Chief  Governor,  that  to  spare  Government 
the  expense,  he  would  give  himself  up,  on  condition  that  he 
would  not  be  tried  in  Clonmel,  where  he  said  his  enemies 
were  too  powerful.  A  promise  founded  on  justice  was  made, 
though  it  was  never  performed.  He  was  sent  to  take  his 
trial  at  Clonmel,  where  he  was  found  guilty  upon  the  evi- 
dence of  the  same  identical  witnesses  whose  testimony  had 
been  rejected  before  by  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  viz.  a 
naughty  boy,  a  lewd  woman,  and  an  impeached  thief,  taken 
out  of  Clonmel  jail.  Hence  Sheehy's  jury  is  become  as  pro- 
verbial in  Ireland,  as  the  ancient  justiciaries  of  Donfront,  in 
Normandy,  who  used  to  hang  regularly  at  the  hour  of  one, 
every  prisoner  who  had  been  tried  at  twelve. 

Allez  a  Donfront,  juste  ville  de  malheur. 

Ou  bou  est  accuse  a  midi,  et  pendu  a  une  beure. 

Under  the  impressions  which  such  singular  events   must 
make  on  the  mind,  and  in  the  delicacy  of  the  clerical  si tua- 

*  See  the  continuation  of  Curry's  Memoirs  of  the  Civil  Wars  of  Ireland. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACT&.  237 

lion,  who  could  suspect  that  any  Catholic  clergymen  would 
blow  the  trumpet  of  sedition  in  the  ears  of  a  deluded  p^a- 
sintry?  Or  has  the  Bishop,  like  Socrates,  a  sinn'ar  spirit 
to  give  his  information  which  no  mortal  besides  himself  can 
pretend  to  ?  But  reserving  the  discussion  of  such  an  accu- 
sation for  its  proper  place,  1  must  proceed  in  the  course  of 
my  narrative. 

The  associations  were  now  extending,  and  a  notice 
posted  up  against  the  gates  of  the  parish  churches  and 
chapels  was  a  kind  of  standard  to  which  all  parties,  with- 
out distinction  of  religion,  flocked,  and  entered  into  a 
general  confederacy.  For  the  public  are  not  to  form 
their  judgment  of  the  disturbances  from  the  mad  decla- 
mation of  a  Theophilus,  nor  the  imperfect  one  given  by 
the  Bishop  of  Cloyne.  The  first  is  a  bare-faced  slanderer. 
The  Bishop  gives  the  profile  of  the  picture,  in  entirely 
shadowing  the  other  side  of  the  face,  by  makinp-  out  the 
insurgents  a  popish  mob,  connived  at  by  some  Protes- 
tants, without  mentioning  the  effectual  and  active  con- 
currences of  any.  The  unprovoked  and  unmerited  at- 
tack made  on  Mr.  O'Leary,  by  the  right  reverend  prelate 
and  his  less  reverend  confederate,  has  forced  the  pencil 
into  his  hand,  and  now  compels  him  to  draw  the  pic- 
ture with  a  full  face.  The  notice  alluded  to  is  to  the 
following  purport.  «  You  are  hereby  cautioned  not  to  pay 
'  ministers'  tithes,  only  in  the  following  manner,  viz.  potatos 
'4s.  per  acre;  wheat  and  barley  Is.  6V.  per  acre;  oats  and 
*  meadows  Is.  per  acre.  Roman  Catholic  clergy  to  receive 
'for  marriage  5s.;  for  baptism  1*.  6d.;  for  anointing  and 
'  visiting  the  sick  Is. ;  for  mass  Is. :  for  confession  6c/.  You 
'  are  hereby  warned  not  to  pay  parish  priests'  clerks  money, 
'nor  any  other  dues  concerning  marriages.  Be  all  sure  not 
'to  go  to  any  expenses  at  your  confession  terms,  but  let 
'  them  partake  of  your  own  fare. ' 

This  notice  which  I  censured,  as  may  be  seen  in  my 
letters,  seemed  moderate  however  to  many  acquainted  with 
the  distresses  of  the  poor.  In  vain  has  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne 
attempted  to  justify  proctors,  tithe-canters,  tithe-jobbers, 
&c.  by  declaring  them  to  be  agents  to  the  clergy,  equally 
necessary  as  receivers  to  lay-gentlemen.     The  general  voice 


238  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

is   against     them.      Moreover,    the    comparison    does    not 
hold.     The  gentleman's    agent   only  collects    the   rent   at 
the   expense   of   his   employer;    the    tenants  pay  the  de- 
termined   sum    agreed   on    by  the   lease,   and    if  his  farm 
should  produce  a  hundred    fold  every  year,  he  pays  nei- 
ther more  nor  less  until  his  lease  expires.     But  these  eccle- 
siastical agents,  of  whom  the  Bishop  becomes  the  apologist, 
are  so  many  locusts,  that  eat  up  the  peasant's  green  herb- 
age  without  feeding  the  wind  that  wafts  them.     Several 
instances  could  be  procured  to  prove  that  they  gain  more 
than  their  employers,  whilst   they   distress  the  cottager. 
When  the   potato-stalks   begin  to  shoot  to  a  certain  dis- 
tance above  the  surface  of  the  earth,  the  sharp-eyed  lynx 
surveys  it  in  the  name   of  God   and   of  our  holy  mother 
the  church.     On  the  spot  where  the   stalks  crowd  toge- 
ther thick  and  threefold,  in  order  to  discriminate  the  ranks 
and   to  avoid  confusion,  the  proctor's  hand  rears  a  land- 
mark,    Doctor  Woodward  thinks  it  a  duty  of  a  bad  pastor  to 
appoint  agents  well  qualified  for  preserving  order.    The  hun- 
gry peasant  whose  teeth  water  for  the  vegetable  he  had  sown 
and  reared  up  from  its  infant  state,  wishes  to  try  its  quality ; 
but  if  he  approaches  within  a  certain  distance  of  the  fatal  land- 
mark, he  is  sure  to  share  the  fate  of  the  benighted  mariner, 
who  approaches  those  hostile  shores,  when  allured  by  the  false 
lights  held  out  to  decoy  him  to  the  rock,  on  which  he  is  to  be 
shipwrecked.     The  bishop's  court  is  the  strand  on  which  the 
proctor  gathers  the  spoils,     it  is  not  the  fault  of  the  institu- 
tion, nor  the  gentlemen  who  preside  in  the  courts ;  but  it  is 
the  misfortune  of  tire  peasant,  who  has  neither  means  nor 
skill  to  cope  with  those  agents,  who  are   adepts  in  their 
professions.     From  many  instances  of  the  abuse  made  of  the 
authority  of  those  courts  by  crafty  agents,  I  shall  select  one. 
In  the  province  where  Doctor  Woodward  and  I  reside,  and 
now  the  theatre  of  pamphlets  and  politics,  there  lived  a  poor 
peasant;  his  poverty  had  not  deprived  him  of  those  qualities 
which  constituted  a  husband  and  a  father ;  to  him  a  child  was 
born,  who  did  not  live  long  enough  to  enjoy  his   father's 
estate,  he  died;  and  for  want  of  a  shilling  to  purchase   the 
hallowed  ground  wherein  to  deposite  the  defunct  heir  of  an 
opulent  fortune,  the  father  rolled  him  up  in  a  bundle  of  straw 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  239 

and  smuggled  him  into  the  church-yard  in  the  dead  of  night- 
Happy  !  thrice  happy  !  had  he  met  on  that  fatal  night  with  a 
custom-house  officer.  He  would  have  escaped  with  the  con- 
traband goods.  But  alas  !  his  destiny  was  to  meet  with  one 
of  those  officers  who  have  recourse  to  what  the  moderator 
calls  the  Court  Christian.  A  decree  (whether  real  or  fictitious 
I  cannot  tell)  from  the  Bishop's-court  was  produced  by  the 
carrion-hunter  and  another,  who  were  hurrying  away  the  pea- 
sant, fainting  after  a  violent  resistance.  Luckily  he  was  met 
by  an  intimate  friend  of  mine,  who  released  him  by  paying 
the  charnel  house  fees. 

These  anecdotes  I  relate  to  shew  that,  notwithstanding 
Doctor  Woodward's  zeal  in  defence  of  what  he  writes  in  fa- 
vour of  ecclesiastical  agents,  they  are  oppressive,  and 
impose  both  on  Bishops'-courts  and  their  employers.  I 
do  not  say,  that  they  do  it  with  their  consent :  far  be  it 
from  me.  It  was  against  the  prophet's  will  his  servant 
received  presents  from  Naaman  the  Assyrian  officer:  and 
it  is  against  the  clergy's  consent  that  their  agents  are 
vexatious  to  the  poor.  But  there  is  this  difference  be- 
tween the  Bishop  and   the  prophet :  '  the  latter  struck  his 

*  agent  with  the  leprosy ;  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne  spins  out  a 

*  chapter  of  his  pamphlet  to  shew  that  his  agents  are  imma- 
*culate.'>  I  shall  then  join  the  moderator  in  his  litany,  from 
such  agents  good  Lord  deliver  us !  In  parishes  where  the 
rectors  took  the  tithes  into  their  own  hands,  it  is  acknow- 
ledged that  the  clergyman  has  received  much  more  than 
ever  he  did  through  the  mediation  of  such  agents,  besides 
the  additional  comfort  of  seeing  peace,  harmony  and  con- 
fidence restored  to  his  district.  It  is  not  my  business  to 
make  calculations,  nor  is  it  a  part  of  my  duty  to  run  over 
parishes,  in  order  to  know  how  far  a  wretched  peasant  may 
be  relieved  by  the  removal  of  a  relentless  agent,  who,  like  a 
dense  cloud,  intercepts  the  rays  of  benignity,  which  would 
certainly  cheer  him  by  a  more  immediate  communication 
with  a  clergyman,  whose  ministry  is  peace,  and  whose  duty 
is  charity.  I  only  glance  at  such  matters  as  far  as  they  are 
interwoven  with  a  subject  which  it  is  my  duty  to  illustrate,  in 
order  to  vindicate  both  the  Catholic  body  and  myself  from 
the  false  and  groundless  imputation  of  attempting  the  over- 

i  i 


210  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

throw  of  the  established  religion,  by  encroaching  upon  the 
rights  of  its  clergy. 

The  supineness  with  which  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne  upbraids 
the  Protestant  gentlemen,  shews  that  the  lower  classes  were 
truly  miserable,  and  that  their  table  of  rates  was  only 
proportioned  to  their  circumstances.  That  they  are  truly 
miserable  all  parties  must  agree.  This  supineness  also 
shews  that  the  Protestant  nobility  and  gentry  were  under 
no  apprehension  of  the  constitution,  either  in  church  or 
state.  Neither  was  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne ;  otherwise  he, 
who  is  one  of  the  pilots,  would  not  have  slept  for  the 
space  of  fifteen  months  at  the  helm,  if  he  really  fore- 
saw that  the  ship  was  in  danger  of  going  to  the  bottom  : 
though  he  now  alarms  three  kingdoms  with  the  danger 
to  the  established  church  from  Catholics  and  dissenters, 
jndling  down  and  rising  up.  But  the  Catholic  nobility  and 
gentry  foresaw,  from  the  reasons  I  have  already  alleged, 
that  they  would  be  misrepresented  to  Government,  and 
that  the  old  game  of  Popish  plots  and  confederacies  would 
be  renewed.  They  had  moreover  their  properties  to  de- 
fend, and  their  character  to  support :  as  men  and  sub- 
jects they  were  as  much  interested  as  others  in  the  pre- 
servation of  the  peace  of  society.  And  the  history  of  a 
country  where  their  ancestors  swayed  for  ages  the  sceptre  of 
authority,  informed  them  that,  in  the  successive  revolutions 
occasioned  either  by  brave  and  fortunate  aspirers,  or  by  timid, 
ductile,  and  unfortunate  kings,  the  Catholics  have  been  in- 
variably the  losers.  The  Bishop  of  Cloyne  then  must  be  a 
stranger  to  the  passions  of  the  heart,  of  which  interest  has  so 
strong  a  hold  ;  or  unacquainted  with  the  history  of  the  king- 
dom ;  or  under  a  very  strong  bias ;  or  prepossessed  with  a 
strange  notion  of  their  stupidity — if  he  supposes  they  had 
any  thing  to  expect  by  the  commotions  of  a  rabble.  If  Go- 
vernment, however,  had  been  induced  to  believe  that  tehy  had 
such  prospects  in  view,  and  mistaken  the  shadow  for  the 
reality,  the  Catholics  would  have  become  equally  obnoxious. 
And  what  efforts  are  now  making  to  persuade  Government 
that  phantoms  are  realities,  let  the  public  judge  from  the 
pamphlets  dispersed  all  over  the  three  kingdoms.  The  fox  in 
the  fable  did  well  to  take  to  his  heels  when  the  lion  issued  a 
proclamation,    ordering    all  the  horned  beasts  to  quit  the 


/ 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  241 

forest.  And  although  no  branches  sprouted  from  his  head, 
yet  his  remark  was  very  wise,  when  he  said,  What  if  his  ma- 
jesty thought  I  had  horns.  It  was  then  prudent  in  the  Ca- 
tholic gentlemen  to  have  taken  the  most  effectual  steps 
to  remove  every  suspicion  to  which  their  misrepresenters 
are  so  industrious  in  laying  them  open.  They  were  the 
first  to  take  the  alarm :  they  transmitted  an  address  to 
Government  through  the  Secretary  of  State.  On  hearing 
that  the  common  people  complained  in  a  few  places  of 
the  exactions  and  rigorous  conduct  of  their  parochial 
clergy,  they  were  the  first  to  interfere  in  writing  to  the 
Catholic  prelates  of  the  province,  pressing  them  in  the 
most  earnest  manner  to  inquire  into  the  conduct  of  their 
clergy,  and  to  remove,  by  every  means  their  wisdom  could 
suggest,  any  cause  of  complaint.and  every  occasion  of  obloquy. 
The  application  could  not  be  made  to  more  proper  per- 
sons than  to  prelates,  whose  lives  are  so  many  living  and 
animated  sermons ;  some  of  them,  by  their  birth,  titles,  and 
fortunes,  would  be  this  instant  seated  in  the  House  of  Peers, 
deliberating  with  che  nobles  of  the  land,  on  these  measures 
on  which  the  fate  of  a  nation  must  depend,  if  they  could 
leave  their  creed  at  its  threshold.  Others  are,  by  their 
knowledge  and  wisdom,  qualified  for  directing  the  councils 
of  kings.  And  the  piety  and  exemplary  lives  of  them  all 
would  make  them  objects  of  veneration  in  any  age,  or  in 
any  nation.  A  letter  addressed  to  these  venerable  and  illus- 
trious prelates,  from  the  Catholic  gentlemen,  was  attended 
to  with  the  same  condescension,  as  if  it  were  the  man- 
date of  a  superior.  They  assembled,  deliberated,  and 
enquired  into  the  conduct  of  their  clergy ;  when  in  four 
or  five  parishes,  they  discovered  that  the  pastors  and 
flocks  could  not  agree,  either  from  inflexibility  in  the 
former,  who  perhaps  thought  themselves  injured  by 
submitting  to  regulations  dictated  by  their  inferiors,  or 
from  the  obstinacy  of  the  latter,  who  would  abide  by  no 
regulating  standard  for  the  support  of  their  pastors,  but 
such  as  they  themselves  thought  fit  to  determine  :  or  from  a 
personal  dislike  founded  perhaps  upon  the  recollection  of 
severe  usage,  prompted  more  by  ardent  and  good-natured 
zeal,  than  by  this  sage  discretion,  which  attains  its  end  by 


242  MISCFXLANEOUS  TRACTS. 

more  lenient  means.  Let  the  motives  of  discontent  be  what 
they  may,  without  having  recourse  to  canonical  quibbles, 
which  must  ever  be  superceded  when  the  peace  of  society 
interferes,  the  wise  prelates  removed  the  Pastors,  and  sub- 
stituted others  in  their  room.  A  more  painful  sacrifice  could 
not  have  been  made;  nor  could  a  more  evident  proof  be 
adduced  to  shew  the  falseness  of  the  infamous  charge,  that 
the  ill  usage  received  by  the  Catholic  Pastors  from  their 
flocks,  was  but  a  sham  battle,  like  that  of  the  Doctor,  who, 
when  he  beat  his  wife,  said  that  he  beat  half  himself  A  silly 
simile,  and  worthy  of  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne's  able 
writer,  Theophilus.  Not  satisfied  with  giving  this  proof  of 
their  most  ardent  desire  for  the  restoration  of  peace  and  good 
order,  the  prelates  gave  the  most  public  and  signal  proofs 
of  a  disinterestedness  worthy  the  most  apostolical  times. 
After  declaring  that  a  small  stipend  was  requisite  for  the 
support  of  their  clergy,  they  enjoin  that  this  stipend  be  not 
exacted  with  rigour;  and  that  even  if  it  be  refused,  they 
are  not  to  refuse  their  spiritual  assistance,  but  to  shew  upon 
all  occasions,  that  zeal,  disinterestedness,  and  charity  en- 
forced by  the  Gospel,  for  the  sake  of  which  they  had  made 
an  anticipated  sacrifice  of  all  the  prospects  of  this  life,  in 
their  early  days,  at  the  foot  of  the  altar.  No  more  could 
liave  been  said ;  no  more  could  have  been  done.  Such  of 
their  clergy  as  had  not  been  forced  by  violence  from  their 
parishes,  declared  from  their  altars,  that  it  was  for  the 
sanctification  of  their  own  souls  and  those  of  their  flocks,  not 
for  the  sake  of  any  worldly  emolument,  that  they  took  orders; 
that  they  required  nothing  of  them  but  what  they  themselves 
were  willing  to  give,  and  that  no  mercenary  views  would  ever 
hinder  them  from  going  day  or  night  to  their  assistance, 
whilst  they  had  strength  to  perform  their  functions.  All 
were  unanimous  in  crying  out  with  the  Prophet,  if  it  be  on 
my  account  that  this  storm  is  raised,  cast  me  overboard. 
Are  these  the  prelates  whom  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne  ex- 
poses to  the  detestation  of  such  as  cannot  explain  their 
consecration  oath,  which  he  has  translated,  in  his  sixth 
edition,  into  English  for  the  instruction  of  the  ignorant  ? 
For  I  am  to  suppose,  he  presumes  that  the  Peers  and  Com- 
mons of  Ireland  know  Latin, 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  243 

Let  the  zeal,  activity,  and  disinterestedness  of  those  pre- 
lates be  compared  with  the  passive  silence  of  the  Bishop  of 
Cloyne  for  the  space  of  fifteen  months.  And  let  the  public 
determine  to  whom  the  community  is  most  indebted,  for  en- 
deavouring to  restore  peace  and  order  to  a  distracted  pro- 
vince. 

Where  are  now  those  agitating  Friars  and  Romish  Mis- 
sionaries sent  here  to  sow  sedition ;  and  of  whom  Doctor 
Woodward  speaks  in  his  Postscript  ?  I  challenge  him  in  the 
face  of  the  kingdom  to  produce  either  agitating  Friar,  or  Ro- 
mish Missionary,  or  parish  Priest,  sent  here  to  sow  sedition, 
or  who  has  sown  sedition.  The  Bishop  of  Cloyne  cannot 
produce  one  :  he  must  then  prove  a  negative,  which,  in  his 
Postscript  in  extenuation  of  Theophilus's  slanders,  he  ac- 
knowledges hard  to  be  proved.  The  Bishop  perceiving  that 
negatives  are  no  proofs,  has  a  recourse  to  casual  affirmations, 
by  saying,  perhaps  Theophilus  alludes  to  Mr.  O'Leary's 
Letters,  &c.  Here  the  attack  is  personal  on  Mr.  O'Leary, 
the  Friar  with  a  barbarous  sirname,  whose  letters  are  most 
artfully  contrived  to  sow  sedition.  Such  a  heavy  charge  re- 
quires a  full  investigation,  and  must  plead  my  apology  with 
my  readers  for  proceeding  farther  in  my  defence.  Previous 
to  the  arrival  of  the  Catholic  prelates  in  Cork,  we  were  con- 
tinually alarmed  with  the  insurrections  in  the  diocese  of 
Cloyne.  They  spread  gradually,  and,  as  I  remarked  before. 
Captain  Right's  proclamations  were  at  last  posted  up  against 
the  gates  of  the  chapels  of  that  city.  Tithes,  proctors,  and 
priesVs  dues,  were  alleged  as  causes  of  complaint,  and  be- 
came the  subject  of  general  conversation. 

The  common  people  who,  in  times  of  persecution  used  to 
follow  their  clergy  into  recesses  of  forests,  to  hear  their 
prayers  and  instructions,  nailed  up  chapels  in  some  places 
against  their  pastors  in  the  very  blaze  of  toleration.  The 
disorders  which  would  arise  from  such  proceedings  were 
easily  foreseen  ;  and  it  was  requisite  that  some  persons  should 
step  forth  to  stem  the  torrent.  Doctor  Mann,  the  Protestant 
Bishop  of  Cork,  was  absent  for  the  benefit  of  his  health  :  the 
Catholic  Bishop  of  the  same  diocese,  the  present  Lord  Dun- 
boy  ne,  had  been  under  the  necessity  of  going  to  Dublin  on 


244  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

the  death  of  the  young  Lord  Dunboyne,  his  nephew,  before 
the  disturbances  broke  out  in  the  diocese  of  Cork.  The  ti- 
tular Bishop  of  Cloyne,  Doctor  M'Kenna,  was  sinking  under 
the  weight  of  years,  and  ignorant  of  what  happened  in  his 
district.  And  Doctor  Woodward,  who  had  the  administra- 
tion of  the  two  dioceses,  was  taken  up  with  rummaging  pon- 
tificals and  other  old  books,  in  order  to  collect  materials  for 
his  pamphlet,  whilst  the  Catholic  peasantry  were  flocking  to 
his  churches,  and  the  lower  orders  of  the  Protestants  going 
on  Sundays  to  meet  the  Catholic  congregations  in  his  dio- 
cese, in  order  to  swear  the  people,  and  give  solidity  to  the 
confederacy  in  support  of  the  regulations  of  Captain  Right ; 
the  head  pastor  being  either  absent  or  infirm,  or  inactive,  and 
the  flocks  daily  maddening,  who  was  to  be  applied  to  ?  Or 
will  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne  controvert  the  maxim,  that  in  dan- 
ger every  person  is  a  soldier.  The  Catholic  gentlemen,  in- 
stead of  thinking  of  a  confederacy  against  either  church  or 
state,  with  the  assistance  of  a  foreign  power,  which  so  often 
haunts  the  Bishop's  imagination,  dreaded  that  it  was  rather 
a  confederacy  against  themselves,  by  affording  such  politi- 
cians as  are  hostile  to  their  interest,  an  opportunity  of  misre- 
presenting them  to  Government.  In  consequence,  after  wri- 
ting to  Lord  Dunboyne,  pressing  his  return  as  soon  as  con- 
veniently possible,  they  deputed  five  or  six  gentlemen  to  the 
Catholic  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  earnestly  requesting  of  him  to 
enquire  into  the  complaints  alleged  by  some  parishes  in  his 
diocese,  to  use  his  efforts  with  the  people  of  his  persuasion, 
in  order  to  reclaim  them  to  their  duty,  and  to  remove  every 
pretext  for  aspersing  the  Catholic  body,  as  far  as  his  influence 
could  extend. 

Unable  from  age  and  infirmity  to  go  in  person,  he  re- 
quested of  me  to  take  an  excursion  into  the  discontented 
parishes.  1  set  off  in  order  to  allay  the  tumults  in  the  dio- 
cese of  Cloyne,  the  first  in  the  county  where  they  broke 
out.  Here  an  extraordinary  sight  was  exhibited.  The 
common  people  deluded  into  a  belief  that  by  going  to  Church 
for  a  few  Sundays  they  would  be  less  liable  to  punishment, 
if  not  entirely  exempt  from  it ;  and  authorised  to  carry  arms 
in  conjunction  with  the  lower  classes  of  Protestants,  to  whom 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  245 

Proctors,  Tithe-jobbers,  and  the  Tithes  themselves  had  be- 
come equally  obnoxious,  under  this  delusion  they  flocked  in 
several  places  to  the  Churches,  and  as  they  had  not  David's 
Psalms  in  metre,  they  chose  the  old  ballad  of  Patrick's 
Day  in  the  Morning,  for  an  Anthem,  and  got  a  piper  to  play 
it  as  a  voluntary  on  his  iavourke  organ,  as  a  preparation 
for  divine  service,  in  approaching  the  house  of  worship. 
The  marriage  of  Figaro  represented  on  the  French  Stage 
did  not  raise  more  humour,  nor  attract  more  spectators, 
than  did  their  extraordinary  marriage  of  the  Paddereen 
and  the  common  Prayer-book,  in  the  diocese  of  Cloyne. 
Irish  wives  are  remarkably  attached  to  their  husbands,  and 
follow  them  wherever  they  go.  Upon  this  occasion  they 
gave  signal  proofs  of  the  constancy  of  their  attachment. 
Joan  followed  Darby,  and  Judy  followed  Paddy  to  Church, 
where  the  gay  and  unthinking  were  highly  diverted  with  the 
novel  spectacle  of  hands  thrust  into  the  Baptismal  font,  in 
order  to  sprinkle  about  the  holy  water,  and  beads  drawn  out 
near  the  Communion-table  to  reckon  the  Ave  Marias,  To 
the  gay  and  unthinking  it  was  like  an  after-piece  which 
creates  humour,  in  order  to  relieve  the  mind  from  the 
impressions  of  terror  and  pity,  which  it  had  received 
during  the  representation  of  some  serious  drama.  To 
me  it  appeared  as  a  prelude  to  a  tragedy. — It  struck 
the  serious  and  sensible  gentlemen  of  both  religions  in 
the   same   light. 

I  was  happy  in  an  extensive  acquaintance,  and  still  more 
happy  that  the  Protestant  gentlemen  were  convinced  of  the 
uprightness  of  my  intentions.  My  situation  was  delicate, 
and  without  their  concurrence  my  endeavours  would  have 
proved  abortive. 

They  had  previous  notice  of  my  arrival  in  their  respective 
districts  through  which  1  intended  to  pass  ;  and  I  was  happy 
in  the  full  assurance  of  their  co-operation.  On  a  Sunday  I 
arrived  in  a  parish  of  Doctor  Woodward's  diocese. — The 
parish  Chapel  was  quite  deserted.  The  Priest  was  *  aban« 
*doned  by  hi*  flock,'  and  the  deluded  multitude,  lulled  into 
a  false  security,  had  crowded  to  the  Protestant  Church  as  to 
an  asylum  of  impunity. — Thus  in  former  times  when  the 
privilege  of  the  sanctuary  was  pleaded,  malefactors  flocked  to 
the  temples  as  a  shelter  against  the   pursuits   of  violated 


246  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACT*. 

justice.  I  considered  a  crowd  of  peasants  actuated  by  re* 
sentment,  brooding  over  some  wild  scheme,  preparing  for 
nightly  excursions ;  yet  saying  their  beads  up  near  the 
communion-table,  I  considered  them  as  the  abomination  of 
desolation  in  the  holy  place,  as  mentioned  by  the  prophet 
Daniel.  In  every  bead  I  figured  to  myself  the  warhoop  of 
a  Mexican,  ready  to  sound  the  nocturnal  charge,  or  the 
massy  club  of  an  Indian,  soon  to  be .  ornamented  with  a 
Proctor's  scalp. 

I  must  do  this  justice  to  the  Protestant  clergy,  in  whose 
churches  this  religious  farce  was  carried  on,  that  they  did 
not  like  such  proceeding.  They  in  reality  could  have 
said  with  the  Psalmist,  you  have  multiplied  the  people ;  but 
you  have  not  encreased  our  joy.  Multiplicasti  gentem  sed  non 
magnificasti  Icetitiam.  But  what  could  they  have  done  ? 
They  had  no  directions  from  Doctor  Wood  ward  to  shut  the 
doors  of  the  churches  against  people  who  had  shaken  ofFevery 
subordination  to  their  own  pastors.  But  that  was  the  time 
for  the  Bishop  himself  to  appear  in  my  poor  opinion,  4  and 
'  which  was  however  the  opinion  of  every  rational  man, 
8  with  whom  I  have  conversed  on  the  subject,'  and  which 
will  be  the  opinion  of  every  rational  man  who  shall  read 
this  narrative,  he  should  have  published  a  pastoral  letter 
upon  the  occasion,  and  recommended  to  his  clergy  not  to 
permit  their  houses  of  worship  to  be  changed  into  the  upper 
galleries,  crowded  with  a  mobility,  assembled  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  a   farce  of  religion. 

Had  I  been  in  his  situation  at  the  time,  instead  of  tali 
auxilio  nee  defensoribus  istis,  I  would  have  thought  it  no  dis- 
honour to  stand  at  the  door  of  the  church,  on  the  right  hand 
of  Mr.  O'Leary,  and  to  harangue  a  deluded  multitude  in 
the  following  manner : 

4  My  good  people, 

I I  am  a  Protestant  Bishop,  and  you  (as  it  appears)  are 
*  Roman  Catholics.  It  would  be  my  glory,  my  comfort,  and 
4  my  joy  to  bring  all  strayed  sheep  into  my  fold,  to  enlighten 
4  them  with  the  rays  of  the  Gospel,  to  dispel  the  clouds  of 
4  error,  and  to  enlarge  the  kingdom  of  truth.  It  is  my  wish, 
;  and  my  sincere  wish — it  is  the  wish  of  every  honest  man 


Miscellaneous  tracts.  247 

who  thinks  himself  in  the  right  way,  to  wish  the  same 
happiness  to  his  fellow- creature.  It  was  the  wish  of  St. 
Paul  that  his  hearers  were  not  almost  Christians,  but  al- 
together Christians.  And  it  is  my  wish  that  you  were  not 
only  almost  Protestants  of  the  High-church,  but  altoge- 
ther Protestants  of  the  High-church.  It  is  the  wish  of 
charity,  and  if  charity  were  banished  from  the  hearts  of 
all  other  mortals,  it  should  find  its  last  retreat  in  the  heart 
of  a  Bishop.  Were  I  then  convinced  of  the  sincerity  of 
your  motives^  I  would  be  not  only  the  first  to  unlock  the 
gates  of  this  Church,  in  order  to  give  you  admittance, 
but  I  would  be  the  first  to  go  to  meet  you  at  a  distance. 
But  as  a  bad  motive  pollutes  the  best  of  actions,  and 
as  it  is  not  from  conviction  of  truth,  nor  a  desire  to  as- 
pire to  a  higher  degree  of  perfection,  that  you  crowd 
about  my  house  of  worship,  but  from  a  sinister  design  to 
seek  impunity  for  licentiousness;  and  under  the  cloak  of  a 
religion,  which  you  do  not  believe,  to  conceal  the  out- 
rages you  are  intent  on  committing;  I  cannot,  in  con- 
sequence, profane  the  house  of  God  by  the  admission  of 
persons  who,  perhaps  to-morrow  night,  will  be  disturb- 
ing the  peace  of  the  public,  and  eluding  laws  in  the  dark, 
which,  in  all  likelihood,  will  hereafter  punish  them  in 
the  open  day :  and  remind  them  when  too  late  of  the 
admonition  which  I  now  give  from  the  best  of  intentions. 
It  is  not  the  chime  of  my  bells,  but  the  sound  of  Captain 
Right's  horn,  that  has  kindled  in  your  breasts  this  name 
of  extraordinary  devotion,  which,  perhaps  hereafter, 
may  be  extinguished  with  your  blood.  VVill  you  have 
me  change  the  house  of  God  into  a  barrack  of  sedition  ? 
I  see  in  that  crowd  an  old  man,  with  a  pair  of  beads  in 
his  hands.  My  good  man,  where  are  you  bringing  your 
beads  ?  Do  you  intend  to  expose  yourself  and  me,  re- 
ligion and  its  temples,  to  the  derision  of  the  public  ?  If 
you  come,  come  from  conviction,  and  leave  your  beads  at 
home,  or  bestow  them  to  another.  It  reminds  me  of  a 
history  that  1  read  in  the  Scriptures.  Assyrian  colonists 
were  transplanted  to  Samaria ;  they  worshipped  their 
idols  and  the  God  of  Israel  by  turns  in  the  same  temple. 

*  It  is  not  then  a  house  of  worship,  but  a  good  life,  that  will 

*  sanctify  you.     Instil  this  truth  in  the  minds  of  the  young 

K  K 


248  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

people  iii  your  neighbourhood,  and  caution  them  against 
the  practices  of  those  who  may  engage  them  in  outrages. 
If  you  are  not  submissive  to  your  own  pastors,  but  ob- 
stinate to  their  advice,  what  good  can  I  expect  from  you  ? 
You  are,  I  believe,  now  too  old  to  learn,  and  the  gene- 
rality of  you  all,  are  not  much  inclined  to  alter  your 
creeds.  I  give  you  then  the  advice  suggested  by  an  amia- 
ble Protestant  prelate,  my  brother  Bishop  of  Clonfert,  in 
his  letter  on  Sunday  Schools.  /  cannot  expect  to  make 
good  Protestants  of  you,  therefore  I  advise  you  to  be  good 
Catholics.  If  you  have  any  complaints  against  your  own 
clergy,  your  Bishops  will  redress  them  ;  but  I  cannot,  nor 
will  I  permit  you  to  come  to  my  churches  to  erect  the 
standard  of  sedition,  when  f  have  every  room  to  believe 
that  you  have  no  other  motive  in  view.  Nor  can  your- 
selves reap  any  benefit  from  a  conduct  which,  in  the  eyes 
of  God,  is  a  prevarication.  That  God  who  unfolds  the 
recesses  of  the  soul ;  who  rejects  a  spotted  victim  ;  and  ac- 
cepts of  no  sacrifice,  but  such  as  A  sincere,  honest,  and 
pure  heart  offers  upon  his  altars.  Nor  would  my  churches 
grant  you  any  security  against  the  rigour  of  the  laws. 
The  hand  of  justice  stretches  into  the  inmost  part  of  the 
sanctuary.  In  vain  did  Joah,  a  mighty  man,  grasp  the 
comer  of  the  altar:  he  was  slain  by  the  sword  of  justice. 
And  much  more,  in  vain  would  you  seek  for  impunity  in 
my  house  of  worship,  for  the  sanctuary  itself  is  no  sanc- 
tion or  shelter  for  crimes.  Follow  the  advice  of  Mr. 
O'Leary,  who  is  here  on  my  left  hand,  as  you  followed  his 
advice  when  you  imagined  that  you  had  more  to  expect, 
and  were  convinced  that  you  had  less  to  lose. 

4  And  you,  my  dearly  beloved  brethren,  of^  my  own  com- 
munion, how  am  1  to  address  you  !  I  address  you  with  that 
confidence  which  my  zeal  for  the  peace  of  society,  the  pre- 
servation of  good  order,  and  the  purity  of  good  morals 
should  inspire.  Recollect  the  maxim  of  the  heathen  Sage ; 
a  maxim  to  which  the  blessed  St.  Paul  has  given  his  sanc- 
tion, evil  communications  corrupt  good  morals.  These  poor 
people  are  wild  olive  branches  going  to  ingraft  themselves 
on  the  stock  of  the  Protestant  religion  in  appearance.  But 
alas !  as  they  intend  to  use  it  only  as  a  cloak  for  temporary 
outrages,  they  will  be  soon  disjoined  without  taking  sum- 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  219 

'  cient  time  to  be  cicurated  and  mellowed  by  the  sap  or  vital 

*  juice  which  circulates  from  the  stock  through  the  new  in- 

*  serted  branches.  You  may  judge  of  their  inventions  by 
4  those  of  some  of  your  own.  Has  my  diocese  ever  exhi- 
'  bited  such  a  spectacle  as  was  seen  in  the  parish  of  Clona- 
'  kilty  last  Sunday  ?  Protestants  going  to  a  Popish  congre- 
'  gation  to  swear  the  people  to  Captain  Right's  regulations ! 

*  Was  it  to  become  Catholics  ?     No,  neither  do  these  people 

*  intend  to  become  Protestants :  religious  distinctions  are  of- 

*  ten  lost  in  the  idea  of  common  oppression — I  acknowledge 

*  it.  And  would  to  God  they  were  for  ever  lost !  The  vices 
'  and  virtues  of  all  men  flow  in  the  same  channels.     Their 

*  hearts  are  the  same  though  their  opinions  be  different ;  and 
'  for  those  opinions  to  God  alone  they  are  accountable.     I 

*  like  to  see  all  the  subjects  of  every  description  in  my  diocese 
1  well  united.  Such  an  union  is  the  strength  of  the  state, 
'  and  should  be  the  glory  of  a  Prelate.     But  I  foresee  tnat 

*  those  mutual  visits  will  consolidate  a  confederacy  which  the 
'  sword  of  the  laws  will  cut  asunder,  to  the  indiscriminate 
'  ruin  of  the  associations.  For  the  edge  of  that  sword  has 
4  no  eyes  in  it,  and  justice  that  handles  it,  is  painted  blind. 
'  You  all  complain  of  proctors,  canters,  and  tithes.     I  shall 

*  do  what  lies  in  my  power  to  remove  every  complaint  you 

*  may  have  against  the  two  first — no  more  can  be  expected. 
'  but  as  to  tithes,  they  are  established  by  law :  the  legislature 

*  alone  can  modify  them,  or  substitute  an  equivalent  in  their 

*  room.  Wait  with  patience  for  its  decision ;  and  guard 
'  against  proceedings  which  must  hurt  your  temporal  interest, 
'  and  injure  your  consciences.  Or,  if  any  of  you  are  already 
4  engaged  in  the  confederacy  of  disorder,  break  the  engage- 

*  ment  of  iniquity,  whose  ties  cannot  bind  the  conscience. 

*  The  peace  of  God  be  with  you  alV 

A  discourse  from  a  person  of  Doctor  Woodward's  credit 
and  authority,  would  have  been  of  infinite  consequence  in 
the  beginning.  Or  a  pastoral  letter,  with  an  open  dis- 
countenance of  the  interchange  of  religious  visits  would  have 
been  productive  of  the  most  salutary  effects.  Principis  ob- 
sta  sew  medicina  paratur,  hold  good  in  politics  as  well  as  in 
physic. 

One  pastoral  letter  or  sermon  in  eighty-five,  would  have 
been  worth  a  thousand  pamphlets  in  eighty-seven,  and  few 


250  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

persons  are  so  well  qualified  for  such  a  part  of  the  pastoral 
charge  as  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  had  he  been  as  intent 
upon  the  discharge  of  that  office  which  Saint  Paul  enjoins  on 
pastors,  preach  the  ivord,  be  instant  in  season ;  as  his  Lord- 
ship was  intent  on  writing  a  pamphlet  out  of  season. 

I  should  never  blame  Doctor  Woodward  for  writing  a 
pamphlet  in  favour  of  tithes,  which  (if  I  am  well  informed,) 
bring  him  an  income  of  eight  or  nine  hundred  a  year.  But  he 
could  have  written  his  pamphlet  without  reviving  old  contro- 
versies, and  bringing  the  Catholics  and  Dissenters  on  the 
stage.  Much  less  should  he  have  made  a  personal  attack  on 
Mr.  O'Leary,  whom  he  might  have  left  unnoticed.  But 
leaving  the  Bishop  in  full  possession  of  his  tithes,  which  to 
me  are  matters  of  no  concern,  I  must  proceed  in  my  de- 
fence. 

Convinced  that  the  Protestant  gentlemen  who  were  ac- 
quainted with  the  uprightness  of  my  intentions,  were  willing 
to  co-operate  with  my  endeavours,  which  had  no  object  but 
the  preservation  of  public  tranquility,  when  divine  service 
was  over,  we  conferred  together ;  and  presuming,  with  rea- 
son, that  their  resemblance  of  religious  conformity,  was  but  a 
mask  which  covered  features,  which  when  exposed  to  view 
would  not  exhibit  an  inviting  aspect,  we  agreed  to  tear  it  off, 
and  expose  the  wearers  to  their  neighbours  and  themselves. 
I  exhorted  them  to  my  utmost,  in  the  most  persuasive  man- 
ner, adapted  to  the  circumstances.  The  magistrates  explained 
the  laws  with  proper  comments.  The  people  recovered  from 
their  delusion,  returned  to  their  duty,  fully  determined  to 
desist  from  those  dangers  and  romantic  enterprises,  which 
have  proved  equally  destructive  to  themselves  and  to  the 
peace  of  the  community,  had  not  the  law  of  God,  which  Mr. 
O'Leary  explained,  and  the  law  of  the  land  explained  by  the 
civil  magistrate,  checked  the  progress  of  their  pernicious 
career. 

Thus,  with  the  concurrence  of  the  Protestant  gentlemen 
and  magistrates,  have  I  begun  my  mission  in  the  diocese  of 
Cloy ne.— Sedition, with  which  mad  malevolence  has  upbraided 
me,  fled  as  a  routed  enemy  before  me  ;  whilst  peace,  like  the 
inseparable  companion  of  a  man  framed  by  nature,  and  dis* 
ciplined  by  habit  to  cast  its  shadow  on  every  side,  trod  in  my 
steps  and  humoured  my  motions.     It  embraced  me  so  close 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  251 

that  the  meridian  sun  could  not  discover  us  asunder.  I  chal- 
lenge Doctor  Woodward,  or  that  infamous  libeller,  Theo- 
philus,  to  disprove  this  assertion. 

In  the  interim  the  Catholic  prelates  met  in  Cork,  and 
framed  those  regulations  so  worthy  of  Apostles,  who  de- 
spise the  grandeurs  of  this  fleeting  world,  and  of  whom  the 
world  is  unworthy. — The  words  of  Saint  Paul. 

Their  arrival  dispensed  me  with  any  further  trouble; 
and  after  bringing  on  my  narrative  so  far,  will  dispense  me 
in  future  with  speaking  so  much  of  myself. — A  personal 
attack  required  a  personal  defence;  and  as  my  conduct  has 
been  minutely  censured,  I  have  been  under  the  necessity  of 
entering  into  a  minute  detail.  My  enemies,  or  rather  the, 
friends  of  tithes,  to  which  I  have  no  call,  have  attempted  to 
brand  me  with  the  stigma  of  sedition.  Whoever  reads  my 
plain,  unadorned  narrative,  without  prejudice  or  partiality, 
will  wipe  away  the  mark  of  infamy. 

Had  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne  been  as  active  in  enforcing 
peace  and  subordination  as  I  have  done,  the  tire  which 
kindled  in  his  diocese,  would  not  in  all  appearance  have 
•extended  the  conflagration. — Nor  is  his  Lordship  to  take 
any  offence  at  my  freedom  for  making  this  remark.  I  only 
remind  him  of  the  obligations  enjoined  on  him  at  his  con- 
secration, when  he  answered  the  following  interroga- 
tory. '  Will  you  maintain  and  set  forward,  as  much  as 
4  shall  lie  in  you,  quietness,  love  and  peace  among  all  men; 
*  and  such  as  be  unquiet,  disobedient,  and  criminous,  within 
'  your  diocese,  correct  and  punish  ?  Answer. — I  will  do  so 
4  by  the  help  of  God.'* 

God  and  his  own  conscience  can  inform  him  how  far  his 
6ilence  and  inactivity  have  contributed  to  punish  and  cor- 
rect the  unquiet,  disobedient,  and  criminous  within  his 
diocese,  in  a  manner  conformable  to  his  pastoral  charge, 
and  to  that  gospel  whose  author  preached  nothing  but  glory 
to  God,  and  peace  to  men  of  good  ivill  on  earth.  And  the 
public  are  now  the  most  competent  to  judge,  how  far  his 
pamphlet  has  contributed  to  maintain  and  set  forward  quiet- 
ness, love  and  peace  among  all  men. 

t  The  Consecration  of  Bishops  in  the  Euglish  Liturjy. 


2S2  MISCELLANEOUS     TRACTS. 

Had  he  as  a  Pastor  gone  forth  among  his  flock,  or  as  the 
Historian  done  justice  to  all  parties,  he  would  have  disco- 
vered several  of  his  own  sheep  amongst  the  speckled  flock 
of  insurgents,  and  not  confine  them  solely  to  a  Popish  mob. 
Were  not  they  Protestants  who  proposed  the  oaths  in  the 
congregation  at  Clonakilty  ?  Were  not  they  Protestants 
who  overrun  the  parishes  of  Affydown,  Skibbereen,  &c.  ? 
Were  not  they  Protestants  who  headed  a  party  of  four  hun- 
dred White-boys  near  Butterant  ?  The  most  respectable 
criminals  (if  a  criminal  can  be  respectable)  who  was  ar- 
raigned before  the  Judges  on  the  Munster  circuit,  were 
Protestants.  If  from  the  county  of  Cork  his  Lordship  had 
taken  an  excursion  to  the  county  of  Kerry,  he  would  find 
the  truth  of  the  assertion  made  by  a  gentleman  who  is  both 
a  clergyman  and  a  magistrate,  and  who  bears  the  happy 
character  of  uniting  the  qualities  of  the  three  orders  in  his 
person,  the  liberality  of  the  gentleman,  the  charity  of  the 
clergyman,  and  the  justice  and  uprightness  of  the  magis- 
trate. *  Many  Protestants,  (though  I  thank  my  God,  mostly 
•of  the  lower  order,)  says  that  gentleman,  were  engaged  in 

♦  tendering  oaths,  in  procession  by  day,  and  in  outrages  by 
4  night,  as  any  other  description  of  men  whatsoever.     Nay, 

*  some  of  them  were  captains  of  these  lawless  corps,  and 
4  have  been  obliged  to  fly  from  the  prosecution  that  awaited 
4  them.'* 

Who  could  have  been  more  active  in  suppressing  those 
tumults  than  my  Lord  Kenmare,  a  Roman  Catholic  noble- 
man, the  tender  father  of  the  honest  and  industrious  tenant, 
and  the  just  avenger  of  the  injured,  without  any  partial 
regard  to  religious  distinctions  ?  Could  the  public  expect  a 
more  honourable  testimony  of  his  conduct?  or  can  there  be  a 
greater  proof  of  the  contempt  in  which  the  liberal-minded 
of  all  persuasions  hold  feuds  and  discontents  on  the  score  of 
religious  creeds,  than  the  following  address  of  thanks  voted 
to  him  by  the  clergy  of  the  established  religion  ? 

*  Short  and  Civil  Answer  to  a  Pamphlet,  intitled,  "  An  Address  to  the  Nebility  and 
«'  Gentry  of  Ireland." 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  253 


TO  THE  BIGHT  HONOURABLE  LORD  VISCOUNT  KENMARE,  &c. 

T/ie  Address  of  the  Clergy  of  the  Established  Church,  as- 
sembled at  Tralee. 

My  Lord, 

*  We  have  seen  with  indignation  the  progress  of  a  delu- 

*  sion,  which  affected  in  its  object  to  controul  the  laws  of  the 

*  realm. — From  the  spreading  contagion,  every  good  citizen 

*  felt  an  encreasing  alarm  j  and  the  tranquility  of  the  country 
'  was  suspended  in  the  fever  of  the  times. — You,  my  Lord, 

*  came  forward  in  the  crisis. — You  led  the  way  in  zeal  and 

*  in  vigilance  ;  and  borrowing  less  from  the  station  you  pos- 

*  sess,  than  from  the  esteem  you  deserve,  you  interposed  ;  an 

*  example  which  had  a  title  to  success ;  by  such  an  exertion, 
'  and  by  the  native  energy  of  violated  justice,  we  trust  that 

*  the  growing  mischief  has  been  effectually  repelled.     We 

*  owe  you  our  acknowledgments,  and  in  the  hour  of  subsid- 

*  ing  tumult,  we  thank  you  for  the  prospect  of  repose.     To 

*  some  minds  there  is  a  conscious  satisfaction,  which  exceed 

*  every  other  measure  of  reward';  yet,  my  Lord,  to  the  testi- 
'  mony  of  your  own  feelings,  you  will  not  refuse  to  join  the 
i  tribute  of  general  applause.' 

« MAURICE  CROSBIE, 

t 

(  Deaa  •!  Limerick,  and  Rector  of  Castle-Island,  Ice/ 

Tralee,  Oct.  4,  1786. 

Can  then  any  man  in  honour  to  conscience  say  with  the 
unconscientious  Thcophilus,  that  the  insurgents  are  all  Pa- 
pists ?  Or  is  it  not  a  falsehood  bordering  upon  blasphemy,* 
for  that  slanderer  to  say,  *  that  the  parish  Priests  are  in  a 

*  confederacy  with  their  flocks,  in  order  to  plunder  the  Pro- 

*  testant  clergy  of  their  tithes,  and  to  appropriate  to  them- 
selves a  compensation  for  absolution  V  These  Pastors  have 
suffered  more  than  any  in  the  shipwreck. — Was  not  a  Father 

*  Tkese  vrords  aye  n»t  enmradictp  d  b»  the.  Bjshwv 


2.04  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

Burke  obliged  to  quit  his  parish,  the  same  day  that 
Archdeacon  Tisdal  quitted  his?  Were  not  balls  fired  at 
one  Father  Sheehy?  Were  not  two  clergymen,  one  a 
Secular,  and  the  other  Regular,  robbed  the  same  night  of 
their  wearing  apparel?  Another  parish  Priest,  a  venerable 
old  man,  who  was  never  charged  with  any  extortions, 
and  who,  in  my  own  presence,  challenged  his  congre- 
gation to  bring  forward  any  charge  against  him,  was 
robbed  of  what  little  lie  had  to  support  him  in  his  old 
age,  even  of  his  very  bed. — Another  on  suspicion  of  having 
brought  the  army  to  his  congregation  to  prevent  the  deluded 
people  from  swearing,  was  on  the  point  of  being  torn  limb 
by  limb  at  his  altar,  had  not  a  gentleman  stepped  forward 
and  said,  that  he  himself  was  the  person  who  had  applied  to 
the  magistrate  for  the  purpose.  The  gentleman  himself 
narrowly  escaped  with  his  life,  through  the  interposition  of 
the  Vicar- general,  who  had  the  presence  of  mind  to  step  with 
the  Crucifix  in  his  hand  between  the  gentleman  and  the  en- 
raged multitude,  crying  out  to  them  with  a  loud  voice,  J 
conjure  you  in  the  name  of  the  God  whose  image  I  hold,  not 
to  pollute  his  altar  with  murder. 

Is  it  possible  that  a  man  could  be  so  callous  to  the  feelings 
of  honour,  and  so  impenetrable  to  the  impressions  of  truth, 
as  to  obtrude  on  the  public  such  barefaced  slanders  as  Theo- 
philus  has  done  ?  Could  not  his  zeal  against  Popery,  and 
that  unprovoked  vengeance,  the  offspring  of  the  Demons  of 
night,  be  sufficiently  glutted  with  the  persecution  which  de- 
fenceless men  suffer  from  their  own,  without  blackening  their 
character  ?  Or  could  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  who  is  presumed 
not  to  be  ignorant  of  transactions  which  happened  both  to 
his  own  and  the  other  diocese  committed  to  his  care,  excuse 
a  Theophilus  in  saying  with  such  sangfroid)  than  an  appre- 
hension for  the  safety  of  religion  will  naturally  excite  a  warmth? 
Will  zeal  for  religion  justify  what  nature  and  religion  con- 
demn? Or  did  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne  imagine  that  I  would 
be  so  divested  of  honour,  or  such  an  enemy  to  my  character, 
as  not  to  cast  a  light  upon  the  subject,  when  once  his  pamph- 
let in  which  I  am  so  cruelly  treated,  would  fall  into  my  hands  ? 
The  insurgents  then  were  of  every  description  of  the  lower 
orders.  They  made  no  distinction  between  the  clergy  of 
either  religion,  when  once  they  became  obnoxious  to  them. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  255 

Their  creeds  were  different,  but  they  all  equally  com- 
plained of  tithes  and  tithe-jobbers,  whom  the  Bishop  in  his 
great  charity,  calls  the  agents  and  servants  of  the  clergy. 
I  could  add  to  the  number  of  the  persecuted  Roman  Ca- 
tholic clergymen  of  this  county,  several  against  whom 
their  parishioners  swore,  and  whose  masses  they  have  not 
heard,  in  the  long  space  of  fourteen  months. 

There  are  powerful  Protestant  peers  in  the  county  of 
Cork:  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne  by  his  profession  is  of  the 
number. — And  those  persecuted,  defenceless  Roman  Ca- 
tholic clergymen  had  it  not  in  their  power  to  vote  a  grate- 
ful and  well  penned  address  to  the  most  powerful  of  the 
noblemen  of  the  county,  for  their  favourable  anfl  timely  in- 
terposition, as  the  Protestant  clergy  had  voted  one  to  the 
Catholic  '.-lobleman.  No  :  the  county  of  Cork  is  the  only 
county  in  Ireland,  where  the  temporal  peer  attacked  a  se- 
cular priest  with  the  cane;  and  where  the  spiritual  peer 
has  made  so  extraordinary  and  unprovoked  an  attack  on  a 
regular  clergyman  with  the  pen. 

Glorious  triumphs  indeed !  and  battles  worthy  to  be  re- 
corded in  histories,  written  in  golden  characters,  in  paper 
preserved  with  cedar  juice.  Histories  vere  aurece  cedroque 
dignee. 

..How  far  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne's  history  would  deserve 
such  an  honour,  may  be  conjectured  by  his  account  of  the 
insurrections,  in  which  he  enlarges  on  the  persecutions  of 
the  Protestant  clergy,  without  mentioning  a  word  of  the 
sufferings  of  the  Catholic  Pastors.  He  speaks  of  a  Popish 
mob. — But  why  does  he  not  speak  out,  and  unfold  the  his- 
torical page,  from  one  margin  to  the  other  ? — Why  does 
he  leave  so  many  blanks  for  me  to  fill  up?  Or  as  he  at- 
tempted the  tragedy  of  Orestes  :  when  he  placed  the  Pro- 
testant sufferers  in  the  front,  why  did  not  he  place  the 
Catholic  sufferers  on  the  back  of  the  page,  and  finish  the 
piece  ?  Scriptus  et  intergo  nectum  finitus  Orestes.  Did  not 
the  Catholic  priest  suffer  as  well  as  the  Protestant  minister, 
only  that  he  had  not  so  much  to  lose,  nor  the  game  expec- 
tation of  being  reimbursed  ?  Was  not  the  Catho!ic  farmer 
as  ill  treated  as  the  Protestant?  Or  were  there  two  dif- 
ferent  sounds  in   Captain  Right1  s  horn?    arms  were  taken 

L  L 


256  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

out  of  the  hands  of  Protestants  by  the  Bishop's  account— 

and   I   ask  him  by  whom  ?    Is  he  sure  that  the  hand    that 

wrested  them   from  the  Protestants,   had  ever  made   the 

sign  of  the  cross  ?    Beds,  clothes  and   money  were  taken 

from  the   Catholic   clergy. — Who  took   them  from  those 

men  to  whom  (according  to  the  Bishop's  favourite  Theo- 

philus,)  the  Catholic  laity  are  slaves  ?     I  must  however,  do 

the  Bishop  the  justice  that  he  assigns  as  a  partial  cause  of 

the  insurrections  4  the  connivance  of  some  members  of  the 

4  established  church,  the   supineness  of  more,  the  timidity 

'  of  the  generality  of  magistrates,  a  corrupt  encouragement 

4  of  those   lawless   acts  is    not    a   few.'     I   am  extremely 

thankful  to  him  for  this  figure  of  rhetoric,  called  a  climax. 

It  is  an  evident  confession  on  his  part,  that  the  gentlemen 

of  the  established  church  were  under  no  apprehension  of 

its  danger,  much  less  of  the  overthrow  of  the  state  by  a 

Popish  mob.     But  I  am  doubtful  whether  they  will  be  so 

thankful  to  him  for  bringing  them  forward  as  confederates 

• 
in  the  insurrections,  by  connivance  and  encouragement. — 

1  entertain  a  better  opinion  of  them.  Their  supineness 
then  must  have  originated  in  a  conviction  that  the  poor 
cottagers  and  the  griping  tithe-jobbers  did  not  stand  upon 
favourable  terms  with  each  other :  and  that  in  the  conflict 
for  a  potato  or  sheaf  of  corn,  the  Protestant  gentlemen 
would  not  regret  if  the  latter  were  worsted.  They  had 
their  properties  and  consequence  to  hazard  in  case  of  a  re- 
volution.— And  had  their  imaginations  been  haunted  with 
the  gloomy  spectres  which  Doctor  Woodward  now  raises 
all  over  the  kingdom,  they  would  have  been  more  active 
and  vigilant ;  though  they  have  not  read  the  Roman  Pon- 
tifical with  that  attention  which  Doctor  Woodward  has  be- 
stowed on  it,  to  find  out  the  Catholic  Bishop's  consecration 
oath;  yet  common  sense  and  the  knowledge  of  the  world 
informed  them,  that  there  was  no  danger  of  the  Protes- 
tant ascendancy,  from  a  Popish  mob,  assisted  by  a  foreign 
power. 

When  Doctor  Woodward  promised  in  the  title-page  of  his 
pamphlet,  a  General  account  of  the  Insurrections  in  Munster, 
we  little  expected  a  short  martyrology  of  two  or  three  pages, 
announcing  threats  to  burn  new  churches,  which  are  stiH 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  257 

standing,  and  have  no  elements  to  resist  but  wind  and  rain : 
old  churches  to  be  changed  into  mass-houses,  which  have 
not  yet  been  sprinkled  with  holy  water;  the  tongues  of  cler- 
gymen to  be  cut  out,  which  tongues  have  not  yet  lost  their 
spring ;  and  other  alarming  menaces,  for  which  he  acknow- 
ledges to  have  no  other  voucher,  but  a  paper  he  received 
from  Cork.  Thus  the  boasting  poet  in  Horace  promised  a 
mighty  description  of  the  feats  and  achievements  performed 
before  the  walls  of  Troy.  Fortunam  Priami  cantabo  et  no- 
bele  bellum. 

The  mountain  was  in  labour  (saith  the  Poet)  and  was  de- 
livered of  a  mouse. — From  great  promises  of  a  General  Ac- 
count of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Insurrections  in  Munster, 
we  expected  mighty  matters.  We  expected  that  the  digni- 
fied historian,  would  not  be  content  with  moistening  the  nib 
of  his  pen  with  a  small  drop  of  ink,  without  going  deeper 
into  his  standish.  We  had  room  to  expect  that  he  would 
lay  open  the  sources  of  information,  do  justice  to  all  parties, 
and  be  religiously  accurate  in  his  descriptions.  He  talks  of 
a  Popish  mob,  taking  arms  out  of  the  hands  of  Protestants. — 
A  Church  nailed  up. — A  new  Ohurch  threatened  to  be  burnt,  if  an 
old  Church  was  not  left  for  the  purpose  of  being  changed  into  a 
mass-house,  4  and  vestries  controuled  in  such  a  manner  as 
4  not  to  afford  elements  for  the  C^imunion,  though  the  Ca- 
«  tholics  are  excluded  from  having  votes  when  these  vestries 

*  are  held.' — Those  facts  and  the  threats  already  mentioned, 
make  up  this  interesting  and  '  general  account  of  the  rise 

*  and  progress  of  the  Insurrections  in  Munster.' — And  from 
such  facts  who  would  not  infer  that  the  overthrow  of  the 
established  religion  was  meditated  by  the  Catholics.  It  must 
be  the  author's  meaning  and  drift  to  create  such  a  belief  in 
the  minds  of  his  readers,  or  there  is  no  meaning  in  what  he 
writes. — Why  does  he  not  mention  the  chapels  that  were 
nailed  up ;  the  Catholic  clergy  who  suffered ;  the  reduction 
of  their  accustomed  dues ;  the  Protestants  who  headed  the 
Insurgents;  his  own  churches  resorted  to  as  so  many 
asylums  in  order  to  elude  the  laws ;  the  motives  and  springs 
of  their  different  transactions;  the  rise  of  the  evil,  and  the 
application  of  the  remedy. 


258  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

He  informs  us  that  Donoughmore  church  was  nailed  up  : 
and  leaves  his  readers  to  look  at  the  nails  without  pointing 
out  the  hand  that  fastened  them;  after  having  so  deeply- 
impressed  his  mind  with  the  terrors  of  Popery,  as  to  make 
him  guess  that  a  Popish  hand  had  raised  the  hammer. 

The  Bishop  could  not  be  ignorant  of  the  circumstances 
which  gave  rise  to  this  transaction.  He  knows  that  the  Pro- 
testant clergyman  of  that  parish  was  beloved  in  the  place, 
and  had  a  great  number  of  powerful  friends.  The  Bishop 
of  Cloyne  appointed  another  clergyman  to  officiate  in  his 
room.  This  was  not  agreeable  to  the  parishioners  :  when 
the  strange  clergyman  came  on  a  Sunday  morning  to  the 
church  he  found  it  nailed  up.  Let  the  reader  draw  the  infe- 
rence. The  Bishop  of  Cloyne  should  have  either  not  men- 
tioned the  Church  of  Donoughmore,  or  not  omitted  this  cir- 
cumstance, which  would  either  lead  his  reader  into  a 
knowledge  that  either  the  Protestant  parishioners  nailed  up 
the  church,  or  if  there  were  any  Catholics  amongst  them, 
that  it  was  not  from  a  design  to  invade  the  church,  but  from 
a  love  for  the  clergyman  who  was  to  quit  the  parish.  But 
this  manner  of  relating  facts  would  not  answer  Doctor 
Woodward's  end  :  he  mentions  a  clergyman  at  whom  stones 
were  thrown  whilst  he  was  officiating,  and  who  would  have 
been  murdered  by  a  neighbouring  Popish  Congregation,  hut 
for  a  messenger  who  was  dispatched  from  the  same  congregation 
to  inform  him  of  the  danger.  I  am  not  a  person  of  such  a 
cavilling  disposition  as  to  deny  facts,  except  when  I  have 
sufficient  evidence  to  disprove  them.  But  if  the  Bishop  had 
related  all  the  circumstances  relative  to  the  above  trans- 
actions, the  reader  would  attribute  it  to  some  cause  different 
from  the  design  of  a  popish  confederacy  to  overturn  the 
established  church. 

In  relating  this  transaction,  which  a  Catholic  would  hold 
in  the  same  detestation  in  which  a  Protestant  would  hold  it, 
has  the  Lord  Bishop,  as  a  candid  historian,  informed  his 
readers  that  previous  to  this  insult  there  had  been  an  un- 
happy affray  ?  A  warrant  which  the  parishioners  of  both 
religions  deemed  illegal,  had  been  issued  in  order  to  levy 
church  rates,  after  a  manner  to  which  the  parishioners  had 
not  been  accustomed.     As  far  as  1  have  been  informed,  the 


MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS.  259 

rates  were  to  be  levied  on  plough-lands,  instead  of  having  re- 
course to  the  usual  mode.  The  people  resisted,  and  in  the 
resistance  two  of  the  parishioners  unfortunately  lost  their 
lives.  The  killers  were  indicted  for  murder.  The  bills  were 
ignored  :  this  exasperated  the  people  :  their  minds  still  in  a 
ferment — a  new  clerg)  man  was  sent  to  officiate  in  the  parish  : 
they  were  more  disposed  in  favour  of  his  predecessor :  whilst 
the  clergyman  was  reading  his  prayers,  a  boy,  perhaps  a  son 
to  one  of  the  men  who  had  been  killed,  began  to  throw 
stones,  and  was  immediately  hindered.  As  to  the  fact  that 
the  men  were  killed,  1  appeal  to  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne 
himself,  who  would  not  have  been  glad  that  the  affair  would 
have  been  brought  at  that  time  before  the  Court  of  King's 
Bench,  as  bloodshed  on  the  score  of  consecrated  goods,  has 
ever*  wounded  the  clerical  profession  in  every  age,  and  in 
every  nation:  as  to  the  circumstances,  I  am  not  acquainted 
with  the  minute  detail  of  them.  For  the  truth  of  the  above 
account,  I  appeal  to  the  Protestant  gentlemen  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Ballivoorna,  when  he  talks  of  the  reduction  of 
the  tithes  in  the  foregoing  district.  The  Bishop  and  I  relate 
the  same  facts,  but  our  inferences  are  different.  He  relates 
bare  facts,  without  mentioning  one  single  circumstance  which 
mav  determine  the  reader's  judgment  in  favour  of  an  injured 
and  misrepresented  people.  His  only  object  through  the 
course  of  his  pamphlet,  is  to  prove  what  no  man  of  sense  in 
Ireland  believes,  viz.  the  Church  of  Ireland  is  at  this  present 
moment  in  imminent  danger  of  subversion. 

If  facts  such  as  are  related  by  the  Bishop  were  really  be- 
lieved, they  certainly  would  be  very  alarming.  But  when  re- 
lated with  their  concomitant  circumstances,  and  the  motives 
that  gave  them  rise,  the  phantom  vanishes.  The  candid 
reader  will  infer  from  the  above  fact,  that  the  attack  on  the 
clergyman  was  not  a  Popish  confederacy  against  the  esta- 
blished religion,  but  an  ebulition  of  passion  occasioned  by  re- 
sentment. When  Pope  Alexander  the  Sixth,  ordered  six 
cardinals  to  be  sewed  up  in  a  bag,  and  cast  into  the  Tyber, 
none  but  a  fool  can  imagine  that  it  was  with  a  view  to  over- 
throw their  religion  ;  and  no  wise  man  will  construe  into  a 
plot  against  the  church,  two  or  three  stones  thrown  at  a 
clergyman  by  a  boy,  after  seeing  the  mangled  body  of  his 


260  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

father  stretched  dead  in  a  field,  in  consequence  of  ecclesias- 
tical dues,  however  unjustifiable  the  insult.  The  Lord  Bi- 
shop of  Cloyne  must  certainly  have  piercing  eyes  when  he  dis- 
covers every  one's  religion  in  a  crowd :  or  when  he  confounds 
all  religions  concerned  in  the  South,  and  amalgamates  or 
unites  them  into  one  Popish  mass :  we  can  literally  apply  to 
the  Historian  of  the  Whiteboys,  the  remark  made  on  Camb- 
den,  who  from  partiality  to  his  nation,  had  both  eyes  open 
when  he  wrote  of  the  English,  one  eye  shut  when  he  wrote 
of  the  Scotch,  but  was  quite  blind  when  he  wrote  of  the  Irish. 

Angligenus  oculis  perlustras  Camdenne  duobus  ; 
Monoculus  Scotos :  Cjecus  Hibernos. 

Hitherto  the  Lord  Bishop  has  kept  me  at  the  doors  of  his 
church.  Now  let  us  follow  him  into  the  sanctuary — he" talks 
of  Vestries  being  intimidated  by  the  Whiteboys  from  granting 
money  for  the  purchase  of  elements  for  the  Holy  Communion. 

How  many  Vestries  have  they  intimidated  ?  Or  was  this 
intimidation  a  Popish  confederacy,  to  overturn  the  established 
religion  by  extinguishing  fervour  and  devotion  ?  I  do  not 
perceive  this  extraordinary  zeal  for  the  Sacraments  in  either 
Catholics  or  Protestants,  which  gives  the  ministers  of  religion 
room  to  complain  of  the  great  consumption  of  sacramental 
wine,  and  consecrated  bread.  The  more  they  see  their  in- 
structors attached  to  the  world,  the  contempt  of  which  they 
are  bound  to  enforce;  the  more  they  see  them  intent  upon 
blowing  the  trumpet  of  religious  war,  on  the  score  of  specu- 
lative tenets,  which  surpass  the  comprehension  of  the  multi- 
tude, and  neglect  charity,  peace,  and  humanity,  which  are 
within  the  reach  of  all ;  the  more  the  laity  perceive  the  mi- 
nisters of  a  religion  which  is  the  offspring  of  heaven,  intent 
upon  fixing  its  root  in  the  earth,  the  more  they  will  relax  in 
their  fervour,  and  be  inclined  to  believe  that  the  sacred  mi- 
nistry is  a  kind  of  craft  in  the  hands  of  skilful  interested  men, 
who  for  the  sake  of  lucre  and  emolument,  would  preach  up 
Christ  in  Europe,  and  Diana  at  Ephesus,  had  they  lived  in 
the  time  of  Demetrius,  the  silver-smith,  who  complained  that 
his  trade  would  be  lost  if  the  temple  of  the  Goddess  was  de- 
serted. His  Lordship  knows  that  these  are  the  obloquies 
and  reproaches  of  our  modern  deists  and  free-thinkers. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  261 

He  knows  that  in  every  age,  people  have  availed  them- 
selves of  obloquies  and  reproaches  against  the  clergy,  and 
alleged  them  as  a  cause  of  separation  from  his  church,  as 
well  as  from  mine.  The  best  method  of  silencing  the  voice 
of  obloquy  raised  against  the  ministers  of  religion,  is  a  con- 
duct marked  with  that  charity  and  disinterestedness  which  the 
public  arc  entitled  to  expect  from  persons  of  their  sacred 
functions.  How  far  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne's  pamphlet  has 
contributed  to  vindicate  the  clerical  profession  from  the  as- 
persions of  obloquy,  and  to  prove  that  the  ministers  of  the 
Gospel  are  the  most  charitable  and  disinterested  mortals 
on  earth,  let  his  readers  judge.  He  is  a  minute  historian 
who  is  not  satisfied  with  informing  his  readers  that  the 
White-  boy  s  intimidated  Vestries  from  collecting  Church  rates, 
without  alarming  the  piety  of  the  devoutest  souls,  by 
threatening  them  with  a  spiritual  famine  from  Popish  plun- 
derers, who  deprive  them  of  the  elements  for  the  Holy 
Communion. 

If  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  had  been  as  accurate  in  the 
enumeration  of  all  the  transactions  of  the  Munster  peasantry, 
as  he  has  been  in  his  detail  of  churches  and  elements,  more 
figures  would  rise  to  view  on  his  historical  canvas,  and  in  the 
groupe  would  appear  persecuted  priests  and  deserted  chapels. 
He  has  painted  one  side  of  the  face  and  shadowed  the  other. 
It  is  incumbent  on  me  to  supply  the  defect.  He  has  given 
the  profile,  I  must  draw  the  face  in  full.  My  readers  will 
excuse  my  prolixity  when  they  are  acquainted  with  my  mo- 
tives, and  the  reasons  which  induce  me  to  enter  into  so  mi- 
nute a  detail. 

The  character  of  the  nation  has  been  injured  in  foreign 
countries,  where  we  are  considered  as  in  a  state  of  barbarism 
and  rebellion,  in  consequence  of  the  exaggerated  accounts 
industriously  circulated  in  the  prints,  since  the  beginning  of 
the  disturbances.  The  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne's  pamphlet 
has  been  read  at  St.  James's ;  and  his  Majesty  must  entertain 
an  extraordinary  opinion  of  the  Dissenters  and  Catholics  of 
Ireland.  The  Irish  Catholics  in  particular,  are  objects  of 
detestation  all  over  Great  Britain,  in  consequence  of  Theo- 
philus's  address,  the  marrow  of  which  is  inserted  in  the 
Monthly  Review,  which  fell  into  my  hands  the  day  I  sat 


262  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

down  to  write  this  defence.  In  that  Review  of  January,,, 
eighty-seven,  the  disturbances  in  Ireland  are  the  result  of  a 
Popish  confederacy,  cemented  '  by  Popish  clergymen,  and 
'  their  votaries,  with  a  design  to  overturn  the  established  re. 

*  ligion.    All  these  misfortunes  flow  from  a  relaxation  of  the 

*  Popery  laws,  as  from  their  genuine  source,'    &c.  &c. 

I  am  then  indispensably  bound  to  undeceive  the  pubic 
both  in  Ireland  and  wherever  this  pamphlet  may  appear. 
Justice  to  my  country,  to  the  Irish  Catholics,  and  to  myself, 
requires  an  exact  and  minute  detail. 

A  pitched  battle,  in  which  ten  thousand  on  each  side  had 
fallen  in  the  field,  has  not  employed  so  many  pens,  nor  occa- 
sioned such  alarms,  as  the  mighty  excursions  of  Captain 
Right's  forces.  They  disturbed  the  peace  of  the  commu- 
nity, it  is  true ;  and  for  this  they  are  justly  censured,  and 
justly  punishable.  They  collected  money  in  two  or  three 
places,  for  the  support  of  their  confederates  who  were  in 
goal.  No  person  exculpates  them  for  this  ill- directed  be- 
nevolence ;  and  if  they  forced  it  from  the  people  whose 
relations  were  in  goal,  they  deserved  death.  There  was 
one  man  cruelly  and  barbarously  murdered  in  the  county 
of  Tipperary :  at  this  murder  humanity  shudders ;  th<  re 
was  a  respectable  clergyman  of  the  established  church,  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Ryan,  most  cruelly  used ;  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hare, 
was  way-laid  and  escaped.  In  the  county  of  Cork,  the 
Rev.  Doctor  Atterbury,  was  forced  to  swear  to  the  Right- 
boys  table  of  tithe-rates,  but  received  no  other  injury; 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Mayne  had  some  of  his  out-houses  burned ; 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Kenny,  from  terror  quitted  his  habitation ; 
and  Archdeacon  Tisdal,  with  Father  Burke,  the  priest  of 
the  parish,  in  which  both  resided,  took  shelter  in  Cork  ; 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Browne  had  two  or  three  horses  cropped : 
these  gentlemen  are  the  clergymen  of  the  established  church, 
who  were  most  materially  injured.  There  was  not  a  sensi- 
ble Catholic  in  the  county  of  Cork  that  did  not  condemn  and 
detest  the  usage  given  to  the  Rev.  Gentlemen  now  men- 
tioned, and  the  more  so,  as  some  of  them  are  considered  as 
fathers  to  the  poor ;  though  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  up- 
braids me  with  uttering  panegyrics  on  some  of  the  Protes- 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  263 

tant  clergy.  But  equally  indifferent  to  his  applause,  or 
censure,  F  shall  ever  pay  a  tribute  to  merit.  Sorry  am  I, 
as  an  Historian  and  a  man  of  feeling,  that  he  has  not  enu- 
merated the  Catholic  clergymen,  who  were  equal  sufferers 
in  the  storm.  His  readers  would  then  be  of  opinion,  that 
the  Rightboys  were  as  hostile  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  as 
to  the  established  religion. 

In  the  long  space  of  fifteen  months,  whilst  the  distur- 
bances continued,  until  the  Earl  of  Carhampton,  (then 
Lord  Luttrell)  came  to  Munster,  I  heard  of  no  murder 
committed  by  the  Whiteboys;  if  there  has  been  any  such 
barbarity  committed,  I  shall  relate  it  in  the  second  edition 
of  my  pamphlet. 

Every  robbery,  every  outrage  has  been  attributed  to 
those  deluded  and  unhappy  people :  and  to  my  surprise,  (if 
surprised  I  would  be,  after  so  many  falsehoods  propagated 
from  the  county  where  I  reside,)  on  my  arrival  in  Dublin, 
what  should  I  see  but  an  account  of  four  hundred  White- 
boys  attacking  officers  of  the  army  near  Cork.  Three 
nights  before  I  set  off  from  Cork,  we  had  an  account  of 
this  extraordinary  encounter  :  an  officer  on  his  return  from 
the  sports  of  the  field,  for  want  of  other  game,  shot  a  pea- 
sant's dog;  before  he  had  time  to  charge  his  piece,  the 
active  clown  with  his  stick,  revenged  the  death  of  the 
guardian  of  his  cabin.  This  brought  on  an  affray  which 
was  construed  into  Whiteboyism;  and  had  there  not  been 
a  Whiteboy  or  a  Rightboy  in  the  world,  touch  mc,  touch  my 
dog  would  be  a  standing  maxim  with  an  Irish  peasant ;  he 
commonly  answers  one  question  with  another,  and  returns 
blow  for  blow :  this  last  part  of  his  education  he  receives 
from  the  instinct  of  nature,  which  is  forwarded  by  the  Irish 
soil,  so  favourable  to  the  growth  of  valour.  If  he  was 
guilty  of  no  other  fault  but  that  of  resenting  an  unprovoked 
injury,  with  a  stroke  of  Shilelah,  the  nobility  and  gentry  of 
Ireland  would  not  blame  him  much.  They  themselves  are 
remarkable  for  bravery;  and  their  character  is  not  to  be 
insulted  with  impunity. 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  countenance  disorder,  but  I  must. 
make  allowance  for  the  passions  of  man ;  and  I  feel  when  I 
see  every  trifling  scuffle  magnified  into  rebellion  against  the 

M  M 


264  MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS. 

state,  and  every  murmer  against  a  proctor  or  tithe-jobber 
exaggerated  into  a  confederacy  against  the  Church.  Yet  to 
the  discredit  of  the  county  of  Cork  in  particular,  every 
dwarf  is  metamorphosed  into  a  giant.  Tithe-jobbers  strain- 
ed every  nerve  to  alarm  the  fears  of  Government,  in  order 
to  secure  themselves  in  their  extortions,  by  painting  the 
deluded  peasantry  as  unworthy  of  the  least  compassion. 
In  the  Reverend  author  of  the  letter  found  on  the  road  be- 
tween Cork  and  Cloghnakilty,  addressed  to  Dr.  O'Leary, 
they  found  a  favourite  Historian,  who,  in  peasants  going 
before  day  for  sand  to  manure  their  spots  of  ground,  could 
discover  Orlandos  and  Orsons.  The  sport  of  school-boys 
was  mao-nified  into  sieves.  In  Monkstown,  where  ladies 
and  gentlemen  pass  a  good  part  of  the  summer  for  the  be- 
nefit of  bathing,  what  uproars  and  alarms:  two  wags,  for 
the  sake  of  diversion  sounded  an  old  horn  in  the  dead  of 
the  night,  and  threw  all  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  into  a 
panic  terror.  In  the  space  of  three  weeks  this  nocturnal 
sport  appeared  in  the  distant  prints  a  serious  blockade  by 
Captain  Right,  at  the  head  of  five  hundred  men  ;  in  this 
manner,  at  a  distance  from  the  scene  of  action,  were  num- 
bers alarmed  at  the  report  of  the  talcing  of  Umbrage*  To 
give  a  history  of  the  false  accounts  propagated  in  the  public 
papers,  and  of  th*e  manoeuvres  of  tithe-dealers,  would  be  an 
endless  task :  I  must  hasten  to  the  vestries,  as  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  Cloyne  complains  that  they  were  intimidated 
from  purchasing  the  elements  for  the  holy  communion. 

I  have  heard  but  of  one  vestry  in  his  diocese  relative  to 
which  there  has  been  any  intimidation.  The  people  who 
complained  of  tithes  complained  of  the  rise  of  the  parish 
rates,  and  requested  the  gentleman  who  had  the  superin ten- 
dance of  the  vestry,  not  to  increase  them.  In  the  year  eighty, 
church-rates  in  some  parts  of  the  diocese  of  Cloyne,  were 
but  1/.  2s.  6d.  The  people,  both  Protestants  and  Catholics, 
finding  that  their  piety  did  not  increase  in  proportion  to  the 

*  As  the  words  require  an  explanation,  for  the  instruction  of  several,  it  is  fit  to  re- 
mark, that  when  it  was  reported  in  the  papers  that  the  French  had  taken  Umbrage  at 
the  proceedings  of  the  English,  some  wiseacres  imagined  that  Umbrage  was  the  name 
of  some  great  city.  The  mistake  of  the  meaning'  of  a  word  often  leads  into  error: 
and  of  this  error  are  guilty  those  who  confound  Whiteboyis'n  with  a  Popish  Con- 
federacy. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  265 

rapid  rise  of  the  ecclesiastical  revenues,  and  that  the  clergy 
were  not  more  holy  and  disinterested  in  the  year  eighty-six, 
than  they  were  in  the  year  eighty,  thought  fit  that  sanctity 
should  not  be  distanced   by   so  many  odds  by  the  price  of 
sanctification.     They   brought  both   within   nearer  view  of 
each  other,  and  hence  this   mystery  of  popery  controuling 
vestries,  and  depriving  souls  who  did  not  choose  to  pay  too 
much  for  their  canonization,  is  unravelled.     With  regard  to 
the  notice  ordering  a  church  to  be  left  for  a  mass-house,  and 
threats  to  burn  a  new  one,  I  ridiculed  the  very  idea  of  it  in 
my  last  address  to  the  Whiteboys.  He  says  that  they  bound 
themselves  by  oath,  in  presence  of  the  church-wardens,   to 
burn  the  new  church,  if  the  old  one  was  not  left  for  a  mass- 
house.     Who  were  those  who  bound  themselves  by  oath  to 
commit  such  a  deed  ?  Does  his  church-wardens  know  them  ? 
If  he  does,  let  him  bring  them  to  justice  ?     If  he  does  not 
know  them,  how  does  he  know  their  religion  ?     And  have 
they  fulfilled  their  engagement  ?     Was  mass  said  in  the  old 
church  ?     Is  the  new  church  burnt  ?     It  is  very  likely  that  a 
set  of  men  who  have  not  heard  prayers  from  their  own  pas- 
tors in  the  long  space  of  fourteen  months,  and   who   had 
flocked  to  his  churches,  for  the  sake  of  impunity,  would  (as 
I  remarked  in  my  letter  to  them)  indulge  such  fervour  as  to 
have  a  church  for  a  mass-house,  and  die  martyrs  for  prayers. 
Jlpago  nugec  ! 

If  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne  believes  this  a  serious  affair,  1 
applaud  him  for  the  strength  of  his  faith.  Under  the  appre- 
hensions of  terror  the  imagination  realizes  phantoms.  We 
read  in  history  that  armies  in  the  dead  of  the  night  encamped 
on  the  summit  of  a  hill,  imagining  that  the  enemies  were 
drawn  up  in  battle  array  in  a  distant  plain.*  The  out-scouts 
at  the  dawn  of  day  discovered,  to  their  surprise,  that  it  was 
an  extensive  field  covered  with  overgrown  thistles,  noddino- 
with  the  breeze,  and  seeming  to  beckon  to  their  pursuers  to 
advance.  Doctor  Woodward's  imagination  creates  similar 
foes.  Nor  can  we  discover  any  danger  to  Doctor  Wood- 
ward's old  church  ornew  church,  except  what  he  figures  to 
himself  in  his  pamphlet. 


*  The  array  of  the  prices  in  the  rnio-ii  of   Louis  the  Eleventh.    See  Father  Daniel's 
History  of  France. 


266  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

But  will  Mr.  O'Leary  deny  that  such  notices  were  posted 
up,  and  such  letters,  threatening  to  cut  out  tongues,  &c. 
were  written  ?  By  no  means  :  Mr.  O'Leary  is  not  a  man  to 
controvert  facts  vouched  by  the  Bishop's  authority,  except 
when  he  has  facts  to  counterbalance  them.  In  that  case  he 
will  humbly  take  the  liberty  of  being  guided  by  his  own 
judgment.  He  does  not  believe  the  Pope's  infallibility ; 
much  less  will  he  place  infallibility  in  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne's 
oracles  when  he  delivers  them  from  his  tripod.  But  he  is 
humbly  of  opinion  that  such  notices  and  letters  came  from 
other  quarters.  Tithe-proctors,  tithe-jobbers,  and  others 
were  interested  in  alarming  the  nation,  and  awakening  the 
fears  of  Government.  They  dreaded  the  least  alteration 
in  the  present  system,  and  knew  that  the  best  method  to 
secure  success  to  their  plan,  was  to  blacken  as  much  as  pos- 
sible deluded  men  who  were  already  but  too  obnoxious. 
Hence  the  exaggerated  accounts  of  theWhiteboys  circulated 
in  the  distant  prints ;  all  provisions,  and  every  communication 
between  town  and  country  cut  off.  Yet  our  markets  were 
supplied  as  usual. 

A  lady  of  consequence,  who  spends  her  time  and  income 
in  encouraging  arts  and  manufactures,  on  whose  estate  the 
little  girl  of  five  earns  her  bread  by  knittings  whose  tenants 
wear  shoes  and  stockings,  clean  shirts  and  warm  frize, 
whilst  the  tenants  of  several  are  shivering  with  cold  and 
pinching  with  hunger ;  who,  when  the  peasant  dies,  gives 
the  warm  cabin,  and  a  spot  of  ground  rent-free  to  the  widow 
and  orphans,  until  the  eldest  son  is  able  to  provide  for 
them;  who  has  diffused  a  spirit  of  industry  and  vigour 
amongst  the  naked  and  unemployed  inhabitants  of  barren 
rocks ;  and  who,  like   another  Zenobia,  has  a  manly  heart 

in  a  female  breast This  lady  intended  to  drain  part  of 

a  lake,  in  order  to  enlarge  her  improvements.  A  grateful 
peasantry  flocked  to  the  work.  It  was  enough.  We  soon 
read  in  distant  papers  that  a  thousand  Whiteboys  had  thrown 
up  intrenchments,  and  had  formed  a  regular  encampment 
upon  her  lands.  Numberless  falsehoods  have  been  indus- 
triously propagated,  to  the  dishonour  of  the  country.  No 
honest  man  would  justify  any  breach  of  the  public  peace, 
and  no  man  who  pavs  any  regard  for  justice  or  truth  would 
propagate  falsehoods  and  infamy. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  267 

Before  the  relaxation  of  the  Popery  laws,  a  wretch,  after 
having  quitted  his  house,  set  fire  to  it  in  the  dead  of  the 
night,  and  swore  to  damages  which  were  to  be  made  good  to 
him  at  the  expense  of  the  innocent.  The  villany  was  proved 
in  open  court.  Had  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  made  enqui- 
ries, perhaps  he  would  find  that  some  tithe-jobbers  tampered 
with  their  hirelings  to  set  fire  to  their  own  corn. — By  this 
manoeuvre  they  expected  that  a  tenfold  gain  would  com- 
pensate for  this  wilful  loss.  I  doubt  not  then  the  reality 
of  the  notices,  however  absurd,  nor  the  threats,  however 
unlikely  to  be  carried  into  execution.  But  I  suspect  the 
quarter  from  whence  they  came.  Interest  and  vengeance 
combined,  are  capable  of  giving  greater  alarms,  but  the  judg- 
ment must  not  be  captivated  to  the  yoke  of  an  implicit  be- 
lief, when  the  motives  of  credibility  are  dubious  ;  and  anony- 
mous letters  are  bad  vouchers.  No  man  intent  upon  the 
murder  of  another,  ever  forewarns  him  of  the  danger.  If  a 
person  wrote  me  a  letter,  threatening  to  cut  out  my  tongue, 
I  would  not  be  under  the  least  apprehension  that  he  would 
deprive  me  of  the  organ  of  speech.  If  he  were  in  earnest, 
he  would  watch  his  opportunity  without  putting  me  on 
my  guard.  Be  this  as  it  may,  we  all  deplore  the  peace 
of  society  disturbed ;  the  property  of  individuals  in- 
jured by  nightly  excursions,  and  the  distraction  of  the 
community. 

But  the  duty  of  the  historian  confines  him  within  the  li- 
mits of  truth,  and  in  relating  events  when  he  cannot  know  the 
real  causes,  he  must  assign  the  most  probable.  The  Bi- 
shop's favourite  layman,  talks  of  people  hanging  in  galloivses, 
noses  and  ears  cut  off,  &>c.  Will  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne  be 
his  voucher.  For  while  I  am  on  the  spot,  I  shall  controvert 
the  legendary  tales  of  any  modern  Sir  John  Temple. — No  ; 
the  Bishop  cannot  produce  one  single  instance  of  any  man's 
being  murdered  by  the  Whiteboys,  in  the  counties  "of  Cork 
or  Kerry,  and  as  for  noses,  had  he  discovered  any  of  them 
to  be  cut  off  by  the  Whiteboys,  his  zeal  for  religion  would 
have  induced  him  to  collect  and  fix  them  in  the  face  of  his 
pamphlet  to  ornament  his  picture  of  persecution,  and  give 
it  its  due  proportions.     I  enquired  about  those  noses  and 


MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS. 


ears,  I  can  get  no  information.  The  operations  then  of  a 
campaign  of  fifteen  months,  (a  campaign,  which  has  attracted 
the  attention  of  all  Europe,  thanks  to  our  tithe  journalists,) 
have  confined,  as  I  remarked  before,  to  two  or  three  proctors, 
buried  without  being  dead,  and  rising  immediately  without 
waiting  for  the  sound  of  the  last  trumpet ;  the  burning  of 
some  few  ricks  of  corn,  and  the  cropping  of  nine  or  ten  gar- 
rans  which  are  still  at  the  plough  ;  and  notabene,  the  two  last 
garrans  that  were  cropped  after  Lord  LuttreiPs  first  excur- 
sion to  Minister,  though  the  oldest  in  studd,  were  cropt  with 
as  much  nicety  as  if  a  young  miss's  ears  were  to  be  pierce  d 
for  the  reception  of  ornamental  pendants.  A  small  flit !  but 
great  noise.  Such,  is  the  number  of  the  wounded  by  the 
Whiteboys  in  the  counties  of  Cork  and  Kerry  :  but  where 
is  the  number  of  the  slain  ?  The  slain  and  mortally  wound- 
ed were  the  deluded  bipeds,  whom  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne  did 
not  exhort,  nor  banish  from  his  churches ;  and  who  goaded 
by  oppression  on  one  hand,  and  the  expecting  impunity  from 
hypocrisy  on  the  other,  gave  into  those  wild  and  extravagant 
measures  against  which  Mr.  O'Leary  cautioned  them.  Du- 
ring the  disturbances,  the  Catholic  clergy  and  laity  suffered 
more  than  their  Protestant  neighbours  of  the  same  respective 
orders.  And  when  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  promised  his 
readers  a  general  account  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  in- 
surrections in  Munster,  we  little  expected  that  his  account 
would  be  inclosed  in  a  nutshell,  of  which  five  or  six  Pro- 
testant clergymen  were  the  kernel,  whilst  the  persecuted  Ca- 
tholic clergymen  are  omitted,  as  the  withered  leaves  of  the 
tree,  left  out  of  his  historical  dessert. 

Such  is  the  plain,  candid,  and  unadorned  account  of  the 
disturbances,  in  the  suppression  of  which  I  have  taken  so  ac- 
tive a  part,  whilst  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  as  an  uncon- 
cerned spectator,  stood  gazing  upon  an  eminence  at  a  great 
distance  from  the  field  of  battle.  After  a  large  fabric  has 
been  on  fire  for  more  than  twelve  months,  it  is  laudable  in 
him  to  come  forward  with  the  doleful  news,  that  a  few  rafters 
have  been  burnt,  tie  should  have  been  the  first  to  put 
his  hand  to  the  engine,  in  order  to  bring  the  fire  under,  and 
to  prevent  it  from  communicating  to  the  adjacent  buildings. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  269 

When  the  prophet  Jeremiah  wrote  his  Lamentations,  it  was 
a  long  time  before  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  in  order  to 
caution  the  people,  and  induce  them  to  guard  against  the 
impending  calamity.  When  the  prophet  Ezekiel  had  eaten 
a  book  in  which  were  written  lamentations,  and  a  song,  and 
ivoe,  it  was  to  forewarn  an  obstinate  people.  But  when  the 
Bishop  of  Cloyne  cries  aloud  from  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  the 
church  of  Ireland  is  at  this  present  moment  in  imminent 
dinger  of  subversion,  it  is  after  the  Chaldeans  had  raised  the 
si  ge  and  retired  to  their  country;  fifteen  months  after  the 
disturbances  had  broken  out ;  after  Lord  Kenmare,  a  Catho- 
lic peer  had  suppressed  them  in  Kerry  ;  after  the  Lord  Chief 
Baron  Yelverton  had  decreed  an  atonement  to  violated  jus- 
tice, by  the  punishment  of  such  criminals  as  were  found 
guilty  of  a  breach  of  the  laws ;  and  after  the  Earl  of  Car- 
hampton  (then  Lord  Luttrell)  had  pacified  the  entire  pro- 
vince, a  few  stragglers  excepted.  If  in  the  long  space 
of  fifteen  months  he  was  really  convinced  that  the  ves- 
sel, of  the  established  religion,  of  which  he  is  one  of 
the  pilots,  was  in  clanger,  why  has  he  slept  at  the  helm  ? 
When  the  storm  is  over  and  the  sea  exhibits  a  smooth 
surface,  he  sings  the  doleful  ditty  of  the  shipwrecked 
mariner  all  over  the  three  kingdoms ;  but  where  was  he 
when  the  ship  was  on  the  point  of  sinking?  Where  was 
the  pastoral  letter  ?  Where  was  the  pathetic  address  ?  Where 
was  the  publication  replete  with  those  figures  and  images 
which  would  work  on  the  passions  of  the  Protestant  nobility 
and  gentry  of  the  province,  and  awaken  them  to  a  sense  of 
their  danger?  It  is  no  great  hardship  for  a  bishop  to  pub- 
lish a  pamphlet  in  eighty-seven,  which  he  had  all  the  leisure 
to  write  in  the  year  eighty- six.  But  where  were  the  exer- 
tions of  the  pastoral  care  ?  Where  was  the  shepherd's  whis- 
tle heard,  when  the  wolf  was  devouring  the  flock  ?  The  Bi- 
shop of  Cloyne  acknowledges  that  the  diocese  of  Cork  was 
committed  to  his  care  in  the  absence  of  Doctor  Mann.  This 
additional  charge  to  that  of  his  own  diocese  should  naturally 
have  redoubled  his  vigilance:  he  then  should  have  mada it 
his  business  as  superintendant  of  such  extensive  dioceses,  :•; 
get  every  information  relative  to  the  disorders  which  dis- 
tracted the  places  committed  to  his  care,  to  endeavour  to 


270  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

stifle  the  evil  in  its  birth,  and  to  prevent  its  spreading  any 
further. 

I  shall  make  no  further  comments,  but  leave  my  readers 
to  their  own  judgment,  without  anticipating  their  reflections. 
However  the  learned  may  admire  Tacitus  for  his  art  in  rais- 
ing a  rich  work  from  poor  materials,  his  judicious  reflections, 
and  concise  (though   obscure)   manner  of  impressing   his 
sentiments ;    yet   he  shall   never   take  him   for  my  guide, 
because   he  is  too  malignant,   and  ascribes  the  most  casual 
events  to  a  dark  policy.     If  Augustus  names  Tiberius  for 
his  successor,    it  is  according   to  Tacitus,   with   a   design 
that  the  vices  of  that  tyrant  should  serve  as  a  foil    to  set 
off  his  own  qualities.     If   Piso  is   appointed   governor   of 
such  a   province,    it   is   in   order  to   be   a  spy  over  Ger- 
manicus,  whom  Tiberius  envied.      If  Sejanius   is  elected 
prime    minister,    it  is  in   order  to  glut   the  vengeance    of 
the  gods :  he  ascribes  the  offspring  of  chance  to  a  gloomy 
destiny  :  his  characters  generally  bear  the  same  features :  it 
is  not  the  man  whom  he  describes,  but  the  historian's  heart 
I  read  :    for  this  very  reason  1  do  not  like  him,  because  he 
distorts  the  objects.     Had  the  same  events  happened  in  his 
time   at   Rome  which   have   happened  within  those   fifteen 
months  in  the  county  where  I  reside,  what  a  political  picture 
would  not  Tacitus  have  left  to  future  ages !    The  plebians 
all  up  in  arms,  and  the  supreme  Augur  asleep  without  con- 
sulting the  Omens !  The  temples  of  the  gods  threatened  with 
destruction,  and  the  Pontiff  silent !    And  when  the  danger  is 
over,  the  empire  in  commotion,  and  the  Pontiff  offering  pro- 
pitiatory sacrifices  and  inviting  the  people  to  burn  incense,  in 
order  to  avert  those  calamities  from  which  the  gods  had  de- 
livered them,  during  his  security  and  somnolence  !     Reflec- 
tions of  the  kind  I  leave  to  such  historians  as  Tacitus  or  to 
the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  himself,  who  is  so  ingenious  as 
to  metamorphose  me  into  a  being  to  which  I  bear  no  re- 
semblance, and  to  cast  me  in  a  mould  so  ill  fitted  to  my 
frame. 

Can  any  person  in  his  senses  presume  that  the  Catholics  of 
Ireland,  after  the  late  indulgence  extended  to  them  by  the 
reigning  powers,  would  be  so  divested  of  gratitude  and  com- 
mon sense  as  to  expose  their  necks  to  the  chain  with  which 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  271 

rigorous  laws  had  bound  them  for  so  many  years.— When 
their  ancestors  signed  the  capitulation  of  Limerick,  and 
submitted  to  the  son-in-law  of  their  former  fugitive  and 
cowardly  king,  sooner  than  violate  the  laws  of  nations, 
afterwards  so  basely  violated  by  the  last  of  the  Stuarts, 
they  declined  availing  themselves  of  the  succours  sent  by 
Lewis  the  Fourteenth.  When  Alberoni  sent  the  son  of 
James  the  Second  to  Scotland,  the  Irish  Catholics  remained 
quiet  and  peaceful,  though  they  had  every  reason  to  expect 
the  assistance  of  Spain  if  they  joined  the  son  of  their  former 
king,  when  the  present  family  was  not  sufficiently  settled  on 
a  throne  threatened  by  foreign  foes,  and  an  aspiring  candi- 
date who  had  his  father's  title  to  plead,  and  numbers  of  his 
partizans,  each  to  join  hfm  in  support  of  his  pretensions. 
When  the  plains  of  Fontenoy  were  dyed  with  English  blood, 
and  George  the  Second  threatened  with  expulsion  from  the 
British  dominions,  by  a  young  pretender  marching  to  the 
seat  of  empire,  where  was  any  commotion  amongst  the 
Catholics  of  Ireland  ?  When  Thurot  landed  at  Carrickfer- 
gus  where  were  the  Catholics  who  flocked  to  his  banners  in 
the  North  ?  Where  were  the  Catholics  who  caused  a  diver- 
sion in  his  favour  in  the  South  ?  When  England  was  sur- 
rounded by  a  warring  world;  one  of  her  strongest  limbs 
torn  from  her  body,  by  the  loss  of  America;  her  fleets  pur- 
sued by  a  victorious  enemy,  displaying  their  flag  on  her 
coasts ;  and  Ireland,  destitute  of  any  assistance  but  the  loy- 
alty and  courage  of  her  sons,  who  forgot  their  unhappy 
and  fatal  prejudices  in  the  common  danger,  did  the  Irish 
Catholics  stand  by  as  neutral  spectators,  in  expectation  of 
the  event?  Did  not  they  flock  to  the  standard  of  their  Pro- 
testant neighbours,  and  march  at  the  signal,  either  to  defend 
their  common  country,  or  to  mingle  their  blood  in  the  same 
trenches  with  their  fellow-subjects  ?  Are  those  the  men 
whose  loyalty  should  be  suspected,  and  character  traduced  ? 
Or  must  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne's  clamour  about  tithes 
become  now  a  wakeful  trump  to  thunder  division  amongst 
three  bodies  of  men,  who  in  time  of  danger  were  consoli- 
dated into  one  ?  He  alarms  the  members  of  the  established 
church  with  the  danger  wherewith  they  are  threatened 
from  the  Dissenters  inclined   to  pull  it  down.     He  alarms 

N  N 


272  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

them  with  the  danger  wherewith  they  are  threatened  from 
the  Catholics  ready  to  set  up  their  own.  He  excludes  both 
from  national  confidence  ;  then  shifts  the  ground,  and  after 
having  discarded  the  Dissenters  as  hostile  to  his  establish- 
ment, he  invites  them  to  his  standard,  to  join  him  in  his  attack, 
upon  the  Catholics,  by  reminding  them  of  the  lenient  usage 
they  met  with  from  his  church,  when  compared  with  the 
severe  usage  they  would  meet  with  from  the  church  of 
Rome. 

The  Lion  invited  one  day  the  beasts  to  a  bunting  party, 
and  promised  to  divide  the  spoils :  the  ass  with  his  loud  notes 
roused  the  game,  which  was  soon  run  down :  the  division  of 
the  spoil  commenced — this  belongs  to  me  said  the  Lion,  ac- 
cording to  compact;  and  this  because  my  name  is  Lion,  and 
this  for  such  a  reason ;  and  who  would  dare  to  touch  the 
rest  ?  One  would  imagine  that  iEsop  had  read  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  Cloyne's  pamphlet.  4  Come  Dissenters  to  my 
'  assistance,  though  1  have  excluded  you  before  from  national 
4  confidence,  enemies  to  my  establishment,  which  from  prin- 
4  ciple  you  are  inclined  to  pull  down,  become  my  auxiliaries 
4  in  chaining  your  fellow-subjects  of  the  Catholic  persuasion, 
4  lest  they  reach  their  hands  to  the  sacred  sheaf.  But,  as  for 
4  you,  you  dare  not  touch  it,  for  my  name  is  Lion.'  The 
Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  would  have  some  colourable  pre- 
tence for  alarming  the  fears  of  Irish  Dissenters,  and  preju- 
dicing them  against  their  Catholic  fellow-subjects,  if  he  had 
the  generosity  to  divide  the  spoils.  But  will  he  divide  the 
tithes  with  their  clergy  ?  His  invitation  then  and  his  com- 
pliments are  equally  unmeaning. 

Heavens  forbid,  that  the  natives  of  this  kingdom  (let  their 
religion  be  what  it  may)  should  ever  relapse  into  the  irenz? 
of  destructive  and  unchristian  dissensions. 

The  Dissenters  then  will  say  to  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne, 
4  we  will  support  the  State,  not  in  compliance  with  your  cha- 
4  ritable  admonition,  but  because  it  is  our  duty  and  interest. 
4  Be  we  will  not  make  war  upon  our  neighbours  for  tithes 
4  and  mitres ;  we  shall  not  efface  from  the  pannels  of  the  Lord 
4  Bishop  of  Cloyne's  carriage,  that  emblem  of  ecclesiastical 
4  pre-eminence  he  has  borrowed  from  the  Church  of  Rome, 
■  which  he  is  now  exposing  to  public  detestation  j'  nor  dimi- 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  273 

nish  the  number  of  his  dishes,  which  the  Catholic  clergy 
had  dressed  for  him,  ages  before  they  imagined  that  Bi- 
shops, instead  of  praying  for  them  and  their  successors, 
would  disturb  the  dead  in  their  graves,  by  attributing  to 
them  doctrines  they  never  taught,  and  exciting  the  jea- 
lousy and  resentment  of  the  reigning  powers  against  the 
living,  by  casting  at  their  thresholds  abortives  they  disclaim. 
We  shall  not  engage,  my  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  in  a 
Crusade  to  make  war  upon  infidels  who  are  not  in  pos- 
session of  your  Holy  Land. 

It  is  extraordinary  in  you  to  alarm  the  public,  with  the 
dangers  of  Popery,  when  you  retain  the  most  oppressive 
part  of  a  religion,  from  which  you  are  sprung,  tithes  that 
are  oppressive  to  the  poor,  and  pre-eminence  which  in  all 
ages  has  not  been  well  relished  by  the  rich.  We  cannot 
in  reason  hate  a  Catholic  for  his  speculative  creed.  His 
belief  of  the  real  presence  affects  us  no  more  than  if  he 
believed  that  Berenices  tresses  were  changed  into  a  comet : 
nor  are  we  much  concerned  whether  in  that  immensity  be- 
yond the  grave,  there  may  be  an  intermediate  place  be- 
tween the  two  extremes  of  complete  happiness  and  com- 
plete misery.  A  place  where  the  soul  attones  for  venial 
lapses,  and  pays  off  a  part  of  the  debts  it  has  contracted 
here.  It  is  equal  to  us  where  a  man  pays  his  debts,  whether 
here  or  in  purgatory,  provided  he  pays  ourselves  what  he 
owes  us.  And  however  clamourous  a  mitred  divine  may 
be  about  a  Popish  purgatory,  he  may  perhaps  go  further, 
and  speed  worse. 

The  proctor's  pound  where  the  cottager's  cow  or  calf  is 
imprisoned,  is  a  greater  nuisance  to  the  living,  than  thou- 
sands of  subterraneous  caverns  beyond  the  grave.  When 
you  call  upon  us  then  to  your  assistance  against  our  Ca- 
tholic neighbours,  we  shall  not  obey  the  summons,  until 
you  divide  with  us  the  spoils  of  piety  which  have  been 
transmitted  to  you  by  the  Catholic  clergy,  whom  you  are 
now  attacking.  When  they  were  groaning  under  the  yoke 
of  penal  laws,  we  published  at  Dungannon  those  resolu- 
tions which  Europe  read  with  admiration ;  in  them  w7e  de- 
clared, that  as  we  held  freedom  of  conscience  sacred  in 
ourselves,  so  we  held  it  sacred  in  others,  and  gloried  in  the 


274  MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS. 

prospect  of  our  Catholic  fellow-subjects'  emancipation. 
America  copied  after  the  illustrious  example.  The  Em- 
peror has  placed  the  God-like  image  of  toleration,  in  the 
same  banner  with  the  Imperial  Eagle.  Good  sense  and  the 
general  good  of  society,  are  restoring  to  unhappy  morals 
the  inalienable  charter,  which  school  divinity  had  usurped, 
the  choice  of  the  religion  they  think,  the  best ;  and  the  pri- 
vilege of  being  accountable  to  God  alone  for  their  specula- 
tive tenets.  Any  person  who  would  preach  or  practise  a 
contrary  doctrine,  is  an  agitator  indeed,  and  an  agitating 
Bishop  is  as  obnoxious  to  us  as  an  agitating  Friar.  You 
have  directed  your  arrows  against  Mr.  O'Leary  in  particu- 
lar :  he  has  washed  off  the  paint  which  your  brush  nas  laid 
on  his  face  :  he  has  proved  in  his  narrative,  that  you  have 
not  criven  an  accurate  account  of  the  disturbances  in  Mun- 
ster ;  you  have  not  stemmed  the  torrent — you  have  not  as- 
signed the  genuine  causes  of  the  insurrections,  which  in 
your  heart  you  know  not  to  have  originated  in  any  Popish 
confederacy  against  either  church  or  state,  but  in  the  de- 
spair of  wretchedness,  ascribable  indeed  to  several  causes, 
amongst  which  tithes  and  tithe-canters  are  to  be  enumera- 
ted. Mr.  O'Leary  has  fully  justified  the  Catholic  body 
from  the  foul  aspersion  of  Theophilus  and  the  insinuation  of 
the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne.  He  has  called  on  you  both, 
to  produce  one  agitating  Friar,  or  Romish  Missionary  sent 
here  to  sow  sedition,  or  who  has  sown  sedition  in  the  land. 
There  is  the  challenge  given  by  conscious  innocence.  We 
shall  not  then  quarrel  with  our  Catholic  neighbours,  much 
less  with  Mr.  O'Leary :  if  he  has  any  more  to  say  we  shall 
hear  him:  it  is  the  privilege  to  which  every  injured  man  is 
entitled  ;  but  we  consider  him  as  fully  acquitted,  whatever 
further  remarks  he  may  think  fit  to  make  on  your  pamphlet. 


SECTION  THE  SECOND, 

Containing  a  vindication  of  Mr.  O^Lear^s  address  to  the 
Whiteboys. 

I  know  not  upon  what  ground  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne 
can  say  that  my  addresses  are  most  artfully  contrived  to  sow 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  275 

sedition  ?  Is  it  for  recommending  peace  ?  No.  Is  it  for  re- 
commending patience  under  sufferings  ?  If  so,  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  Cloyne  must  burn  the  Bible.  Is  it  because  I  did 
not  enlarge  upon  the  miseries  of  the  peasantry,  in  con- 
sequence of  low  wages  and  rack-rents,  as  the  Bishop  in- 
timates ?  The  reduction  of  tithes  and  the  dues  of  the  parish 
priests  were  the  only  objects  mentioned  in  the  insurgents' 
proclamations.  In  addressing  them  upon  complaints 
which  they  did  not  express,  was  to  represent  the  orator 
who  finished,  by  the  deluge,  his  sermon  on  the  resur- 
rection. The  public  knew  the  people  were  exasperated 
and  outrageous.  I  had  one  object  in  view,  which  was  to 
work  on  their  passions,  by  the  fittest  springs,  to  move 
the  hearts  and  allay  the  passions  of  a  discontented  mul- 
titude. I  mean  hope  and  fear ;  the  dread  of  punishment, 
and  the  hope  of  redress — I  knew  that  such  of  the  clergy 
as,  from  the  warmth  of  zeal,  and  want  of  foreknow- 
ledge that  their  flock  would  ever  rise  against  themselves,  had 
recourse  to  the  usual  method  of  reclaiming  them  by  severity, 
had  lost  their  influence.  In  vain  had  they  substituted  a 
curse  for  a  prayer,  and  the  oak  saplin  for  the  peaceful 
asperges  ;  the  obstinacy  of  the  flock  increased  in  proportion 
to  the  rigour  of  the  pastor ;  at  last  the  rupture  rose  to  such 
a  height,    that  they  swore  in   some  places  never  to  hear 

prayers    from    their  present   parish    priests. This   the 

Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  cannot  be  ignorant  of;  and  the 
candour  of  the  historian,  when  he  talks  of  the  insurrections, 
as  well  as  justice  to  those  persecuted  ecclesiastics,  should 
have  induced  him  to  advert  to  this  very  singular  and  unex- 
pected circumstance ;  especially  when  he  had  read  in  the 
slanderous  Theophilus  the  false  and  infamous  charge  brought 
against  those  clergymen,  accusing  them  of  being  in  a  con- 
federacy with  their  flocks  for  the  overthrow  of  the  church 
and  state.  It  was  not  from  want  of  zeal  and  loyalty  that 
they  miscarried  in  their  attempt  to  re-establish  order.  In 
all  probability  they  would  have  succeeded  better,  had  they 
tempered  their  fire. 

I  had  to  guard  against  the  inconvenience  which  proved  a 
stumbling-block  to  others.  I  knew  that  oil  smooths  the 
ruffled  sea,  and  that  a  long  time  before  Cicero  and  Quintilian 


27&  MISCELLANEOUS    TKAC1S. 

had  laid  down  rules  for  rhetoricians  to  work  on  the  passions, 
Solomon,  a  greater  adept  in  the  knowledge  of  the  human 
heart,   had  said,  A  soft  ansiver  breaketh  anger,  an  d  a  hard 
word  ralscih  up  fury.     In  my  ttro   first   publications  I  ad- 
dressed them  in  the  soft  language  of  sympathy  ;   led   them 
on,   step   by  step,  to  the  temple  of  hope,  at  whose  gates 
they  should    wait   with     patience,    keeping   at    a   distance 
from  the  precipices  which  surround  its  confines,  violence 
from   despair,    and  licentiousness  from  presumption.     All 
parties  acknowledge  they  were  wretched ;    the  clergy  knew 
it,  and  they  blamed  the  landlord ;   the  landlords  knew  it, 
and  they  blamed  the  clergy's  agent.     It  was  not  my  duty  to 
dictate   to   either;      but  if    the  Lord   Bishop   of  Cloyne 
affirms,   in   his  pamphlet,    that  they   did   not   suffer   from 
such   persons  as  deal   in  tithes,  with   every  deference  he 
should  be  better   informed.     A  gentleman  of  veracity  has 
declared  to   me  that    thirty-two   shillings    have   been   ex- 
torted   for    one  acre  of   potatos ;     and    that  when   a   pea- 
sant offered  to  buy  his  tithes  at  a  certain  price,  he  was 
horse- whipped :   I  do  not  say  that  this  happened  in  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  Cloyne's  diocese,  to  which  he  should  have  con- 
fined himself  when  he  became  an  advocate  for  ecclesiastical 
agents :   and  if  report    be   true,   in  some  places  it  is  said 
that  the  tithes  which  were  set  by  the  clergyman  for  three  hun- 
dren  pounds,  were  raised  by  those  harpies  to  the  enormous 
sum  of  £700,  and  more.      This  rapid  rise  must  have  been 
oppressive  to  the   poor,  without  any  benefit,  but  rather  a 
loss  to  the  clergyman  :  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne  would  have  done 
well  if,  in  the  beginning  of  the  disturbances,  and  even  a  long 
time  before,  he  had  inquired,  whether  there  had  been  in  his 
own  diocese  a  certain  tithe -jobber  of  such  art,  power,  and  in- 
fluence, as  to  get  the  tithes  for  about  one  hundred  and  sixty 
pounds,  which  he  raised  to  about  five  hundred.     The  clergy- 
man, who  is  all  sweetness  and  humanity,  was  under  the  ne- 
cessity, in  his  own  defence,  to  make  over  a  bond  to  this  agent, 
who  had  the  policy  and  influence  to  hinder  the  peasants  from 
taking  the  tithes  from  the  lenient  and  lawful  owner,  who  was 
willing  to  set  them  at  a  moderate  price.     But  when,  by  the 
above  stratagem,  this  man  got  them  into  his  own  possession, 
they  became  the  scourges  of  the  poor,  who  were  continually 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  277 

harassed  by  decrees,  either  real  or  fictitious,  which  he  either 
obtained  or  pretended  to  obtain  from  the  Bishop's-Court. 
No  music  could  be  heard  in  his  district  but  the  noise  of  cat- 
tle, mingled  with  the  cries  of  the  wretched,  seeing  their  little 
stock  sold  for  half  value.  That  man's  pound  was  like  unto 
a  lion's  den.  The  oppressed  people  came  to  the  clergyman 
requesting  him  to  take  the  tithes  into  his  own  hands,  offering- 
him  twenty  pounds  more  than  he  got  from  the  jobber ;  an 
offer  which  the  clergyman  who  feels  for  the  poor,  was  under 
the  painful  necessity  of  refusing,  on  account  of  his  engage, 
ment  with  the  other.  All  parties  then  agree  that  the  unhappy- 
people  were  oppressed  :  and  the  Earl  of  Carhampton  (then 
Lord  Viscount  Luttrell)  who  commanded  the  army  in  M mi- 
ster, and  who  acquitted  himself  of  his  commission  with  such 
honour  and  humanity,  is  convinced  that  distress,  but  not 
wantonness  ;  the  stings  of  poverty,  but  not  the  design  of  over- 
turning church  or  state,  gave  rise  to  the  disturbances  in  the 
South  of  Ireland.  Had  the  maxim  that  it  is  better  to  pre- 
vent  crimes  than  to  punish  them,  been  followed ;  had  all  the 
landlords,  both  noblemen  and  getlemen  taken  an  active  part 
at  the  first  breaking  out  of  the  insurrections  ;  had  they  ex- 
plained to  their  respective  tenants  the  danger  and  impropriety 
of  their  proceedings,  inquired  into  their  complaints,  informed 
them  that  the  senate  of  the  nation  was  alone  competent  to 
make  any  alteration  in  established  laws,  and  that  if  they  did 
not  follow  their  advice,  or  obey  their  injunctions,  they  would 
be  under  the  necessity  of  punishing  them,  both  as  landlords 
and  magistrates ;  had  this  plan  been  adopted,  the  distur- 
bances would  have  been  stifled  in  their  very  birth.  Such  of 
the  gentlemen  of  consequence  as  had  adopted  this  plan,  soon 
restored  peace  and  tranquillity  to  their  districts.  It  was  the 
plan  which  Menenius  Agrippa  adopted  with  success,  when 
the  discontented  plebeians  retired  to  the  sacred  mountain. 
It  was  the  plan  adopted  by  Junius  Blesus,  when  the  Panno- 
nian  legions  revolted  at  the  instigation  of  a  common  soldier. 
It  was  the  plan  adopted  by  Lord  Luttrell  when  he  went  to  the 
congregations,  and  reclaimed  to  their  duty  several  parishes, 
instead  of  marking  the  progress  of  his  march  with  the  impo- 
verished blood  of  half-starved  wretches.  Caesar's  clemency 
outshone  the  splendour  of  his  victories,     And  Lord   Lut- 


2/tJ  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

trell's  wisdom  and  humanity  upon  that  occasion,  besides 
the  honour  and  esteem  he  acquired,  have  contributed 
more  to  the  restoration  of  order  and  tranquillity,  than  if  he 
had  let  the  army  loose,  and  begun  with  coercion  and  vio- 
lence. 

The  ministry  of  a  clergyman,  is  a  ministry  of  charity  and 
compassion ;  when  I  see  then,  heroes  bred  in  camps,  and 
trained  up  amidst  the  clash  of  arms,  sheath  upon  several  oc- 
casions the  sword,  and  hold  out  the  olive  branch  ;  when  in 
the  cure  of  wounds,  lenitives  are  preferred  to  caustics,  I  am 
not  ashamed  for  having  addressed  a  discontented  and  op- 
pressed people,  in  the  style  of  sympathy  and  tenderness. 
But  when  I  see  a  Prelate,  whose  very  robes  are  by  their  in- 
stitution emblematical  of  extensive  charity,  exhibit  symptoms 
of  joy  in  the  expectation  that  the  poor  will  not  be  relieved  by 
their  rulers,  I  should  be  more  inclined  to  curse  the  priesthood 
than  to  revere  it ;  if  I  were  so  blind  as  to  confound  the  un- 
feelingness  and  other  defeets  of  the  ministers  of  religion,  with 
the  holiness  and  other  duties  of  their  ministry. 

I  recommended  patience,  which  softens  the  afflictions  of 
sufferers,  to  the  distressed,  after  informing  them  that  the  le- 
gislative powers  alone  were  competent  to  redress  a  general 
grievance,  and  that  a  disorderly  conduct  was  a  bad  recom- 
mendation to  their  humanity. 

Here  are  the  comments  of  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  upon 
the  above  texts,  '  To  what  do  these  lectures  of  Mr.  O'Leary 
4  tend  ?  To  tell  the  insurgents  that  though  he  knows  that 
c  they  are  more  oppressed  than  any  sect  of  men  in  the  world  : 
'  though  he  is  convinced  that  they  had  a  right  to  expect  re- 
'  dress  from  the  humanity  of  the  legislature ;  yet  the  legis- 
*  lature  shew  no  compassion  for  them  ;  they  must  remain  in 
4  their  misery :  they  have  no  remedy  but  that  of  patience, 
1  which  softens  the  afflictions  of  sufferers.' 

I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  admonitions — But  I  blush  at  the 
censure  :  I  prefer  the  charitable  Samaritan,  who  did  not  offer 
up  sacrifices  in  Solomon's  Temple,  yet  relieved  the  bleed- 
ing man  on  the  road  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho ;  I  prefer 
him  to  the  unfeeling  Priest  and  Levite,  who  passed  by  un- 
concerned, without  pitying  a  man  whom  they  saw  welter- 
ing in  his  blood.     I  shall  ever  pity  the  poor,    and   shall  ever 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  279 

recommend  them  to  their  rulers.  If  this  be  a  crime,  may  it 
be  the  only  crime  of  which  I  may  be  found  guilty. 

I  recommend  them  to  their  rulers ;  it  would  have  been 
more  becoming  in  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  to  have  done 
the  same,  than  to  censure  me  for  the  feelings  of  piety.  I 
still  indulge  the  hope,  that  the  legislators  of  Ireland  will  re- 
dress the  grievances  of  the  wretched,  at  the  period  which 
their  wisdom  will  appoint.  And  I  am  very  confident  that 
they  will  glory  in  feelings  congenial  to  those  of  Francis  the 
Firsts  who,  on  hearing  that  a  nobleman  had  killed  a  peasant, 
dressed  himself  in  mourning,  bound  up  his  arm  in  a  scarf, 
sent  for  the  murderer,  to  whom  he  said,  Rebel,  you  have 
wounded  your  king  in  the  right  arm,  in  depriving  him  of  one 
of  the  props  of  the  state.  For  without  the  peasantry,  who 
will  feed  my  armies,  or  supply  my  treasury? 

The  plough,  the  spade  and  reaping-hook,  handled  by  vi- 
gorous, healthy,  and  well-fed  peasants,  are  of  more  benefit 
to  the  state,  than  a  thousand  goose-quills,  brandished  by  so 
many  controvertists,  puzzling  the  minds  and  dividing  the 
hearts  of  men  and  citizens,  who  in  the  interests  of  society? 
and  the  feelings  of  humanity,  would  soon  extinguish  the 
flames  of  discord,  if  (he  sacred  fire  were  not  continually  fed 
by  the  very  hands  that  should  preserve  the  temple  of  peace 
from  the  conflagration.  It  is  the  peasant's  labour,  and  not 
his  catechism,  that  should  be  the  object  of  legislative  atten- 
tion, says  Voltaire. 

The  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  censures  me  for  pointing  out 
to  the  insurgents  the  dangers  that  threatened  them  from  the 
severity  of  the  law,  the  eloquence  of  Crown-lawyers,  the 
perjuries  of  witnesses,  and  the  prejudices  of  juries.  What 
was  the  purport  of  this  enumeration,  but  to  make  a  deeper 
impression  on  the  minds  of  the  deluded  people,  by  a  greater 
variety  of  images  ?  And  thus  to  attain  my  end,  by  preventing 
them  from  disturbing  the  peace  of  the  public,  and  rushing  to 
their  own  destruction. 

The  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne's  remark  on  the  above  pas- 
sage is  curious,  and  descriptive  of  his  ingenuity  and  candour. 
1  shall  give  it  in  his  own  words,  ;  After  expatiating  on  the 
4  severity  of  the  laws,  as  not  being  fit  for  a  christian  eoun- 
'  try  and    warning  them   that   they  could  not  expect  a  fair 

o  o 


280  MISCELLANEOUS     TRACTS. 

execution,  even  of  those  cruel  ordinances,  from  the  law- 
officers  of  the  crown,  the  witnesses  or  jury,  I  think  one 
may  say  with  justice,  of  his  address  to  the  common  people 
of  Ireland,  particularly  to  such  of  them  as  are  called 
Whitcboys,  (printed  in  Dublin,  1786,  and  revised  and  cor- 
rected by  himself,)  that  it  is  calculated  to  raise  discontent 
and  indignation  in  the  Roman  Catholic  peasantry,  against 
the  national  clergy,  the  legislature,  the  executive  power, 
and  their  Protestant  fellow-subjects.' 
Let  the  reader  compare  my  letters  with  the  Lord  Bishop 
of  Cloyne's  commentary.  Had  I  said  in  plain  terms  to  th© 
insurgents,  4  Do  not  put  yourselves  in  the  power  either  of 
i  Judge  or  Jury,  King  or  Parliament,  Lawyer  or  Witness, 
c  what  would  it  amount  to  ?'  No  more  than  if  I  had 
said,    behave  as   peaceable    subjects,    and    do    not    put 

J 'ourselves  in  the  power  of  any  person.  I  say  it  now; 
give  the  same  advice,  and  will  the  Lord  Bishop  of 
Cloyne  say  that  for  giving  this  advice,  I  am  seditious  ? 
It  well  behoves  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  who  calls 
the  verdict  of  the  Jury  in  the  county  of  Monaghan,  infa- 
mqus;  and  who  becomes  the  eulogist  of  Theophilus,  who  has 
the  effrontery  to  compare  the  Irish  House  of  Commons 
to  plunderers,  for  passing  a  vote  against  the  tithes  of  agist- 
ment;   to  carp  at  my   words  about  witnesses  and  juries. 

His  Lordship's  letter  verifies  the  words  of  Saint  Paul, 
Wherein  thoujudgest  another,  thou  condemnest  thyself. 

In  order  to  expose  me  to  the  detestation  of  the  clergy 
of  the  established  religion,  he  attributes  the  following 
words  to  me:  These  disturbances  originate  in  the  dues  of 
the  clergy.* 

I  never  wrote,  nor  made  use  of  such  words  :  I  am 
sorry  that  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  has  put  it  in  my 
power  to  anwer  the  charge  with  a  flat  contradiction  : 
the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  dates  his  pamphlet  in  1787, 
and  remarks  that  1  think  it  expedient  to  inform  the 
VVhiteboys,  that  the  Whiteboy  act  will  be  in  force  till 
next  June.  The  remark  is  shrewd,  and  of  a  very  charitable 
tendency, 

My  first  address  to  the  White  boys  was  in  March  eight  v- 

*  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne's  Pamphlet,  page  106,  third  Edition. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  281 

six — a  rumour  was  propagated  amongst  the  insurgents,  that 
the  VVhiteboj  act  would  be  no  longer  in  force  after  the  en- 
suing June.  To  guard  a  deluded  multitude  against  every 
danger  to  which  they  might  be  exposed,  from  an  expec- 
tation of  impunity  in  consequence  of  their  ignorance  of  the 
law,  I  informed  them  that  the  Whiteboy  act  would  be  in 
force  until  the  month  of  June  eighty-seven:  this  was  a  long 
warning  of  fifteen  months.  What  means  then  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  Cloyne  by  his  remark  ?  It  impresses  the  minds 
of  his  readers  with  the  notion  that  this  is  Mr.  O'Leary's 
meaning,  viz.  '  the  Whiteboy  act  will  be  at  an  end  next 
4  June ;  after  that  time  you  have  nothing  to  dread,  you  may 
4  go  on.'     His  Lordship  means  this,  or  means  nothing. 

What  an  opinion  must  not  strangers  to  my  principles  and 
conduct,  form  of  me  when  they  read  the  Lord  Bishop  of 
Cloyne's  pamphlet  ! 

About  twenty  years  ago,  when  the  Whiteboys  first  rose 
up  in  the  South,  a  person  of  consequence  (who  is  since 
dead)  contributed  to  the  insurrection,  in  order  to  defeat  a 
plan  that  was  then  intended  by  Parliament  for  the  relief  of 
the  Catholics,  whom  by  this  diabolical  stratagem,  worthy  of 
another  Cecil,  he  intended  to  render  obnoxious  to  their 
rulers.  1  intended  to  reclaim  the  Whiteboys  by  every  ar- 
gument which  prudence,  as  well  as  religion  could  suggest : 
and  as  the  report  of  the  expiration  of  the  Whiteboy  act  in 
the  month  of  the  ensuing  June,  was  propagated  amongst 
the  people,  I  know  not  by  whom,  (but  I  knew  that  the 
motive  was  such)  I  thought  it  incumbent  on  me  to  guard 
the  deluded  multitude  against  the  snare,  and  to  shelter  the 
honour  of  the  Catholic  body,  by  defeating  the  designs,  and 
disappointing  the  hopes  of  such  artful  politicians.  I  would  be 
an  enemy  to  the  peace  of  society,  the  Catholic  body,  and 
to  myself,  if  I  had  written  in  the  sense  which  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  Cloyne  would  fain  convey  to  his  readers.  Far 
from  encouraging  the  insurgents  to  proclaim  a  truce  of  three 
months  to  concert  their  plan  in  the  interim,  and  renew  the 
war  with  fresh  vigour,  at  the  expiration  of  the  term,  (for 
such  must  be  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne's  meaning,)  I  ap- 
plied for  information  to  a  Protestant  gentleman,  who  is 
married  to  the  daughter  of  a  clergyman  in  the  diocese  of 


282  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

Cloyne,  and  who  wrote  to  the  Whiteboys  under  the  signa* 
ture  of  a  Dublin  Shopkeeper.  If  1  intended  to  encourage 
them  in  their  proceedings,  by  marking  out  the  time  beyond 
which  they  had  nothing  to  dread,  1  would  have  abridged 
the  term,  and  pleaded  ignorance  of  the  laws. 

To  examine  further  into  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne's 
commentaries  on  my  texts,  would  be  not  only  a  loss  of  time, 
but  childish.  Or  what  must  the  public  think  of  the  ingenuity 
of  a  Prelate,  who  construes  the  way  of  the  cross  is  the  road 
to  the  crown,  into  sedition. 

lam  surprised  that  his  Lordship  has  not  adverted* to 
those  words  of  my  last  address  to  the  Whiteboys,  "  Mul- 
titudes are  easily  misled,  and  incapable  of  drawing  the  de- 
licate line,  to  which  common  sense  points  out,  and  of  which 
it  says,  thus  far  you  shall  go,  and  no  farther." 

I  am  surprised  that  he  has  not  made  the  following  com- 
ments on  them,  '  You  have  done  very  well  in  disturbing 
*  the  peace  of  society,  cropping  cattle  and  burning  corn ; 
4  but  stop  now,  and  wait  for  a  while.'  This  would  have 
opened  a  field  for  criticism,  though  he  should  know  that  the 
giddy  populace,  let  their  complaints  be  ever  so  well  founded, 
is  easily  misled  ;  when  once  in  motion  never  knows  where 
to  stop,  and  can  never  draw  the  delicate  line  which  common 
sense  points  out,  and  of  which  it  says,  thus  far  you  shall  go  ; 
if  you  have  complaints  lay  them  before  your  rulers  ;  but  go  no 
further.  And  no  further  shall  I  go  in  explaining  letters 
which  may  be  read  in  the  Appendix.  His  query  then  to 
me  about  the  Emperor  of  Germany  is  not  in  point.  But  I 
shall  take  the  liberty  of  proposing  a  query  very  applicable 
to  the  present  circumstances. 

Quere.  What  would  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  who  has 
granted  free  toleration  of  all  religions  with  a  conjunction  to 
their  teachers,  not  to  divide  his  subjects,  or  distract  his  do- 
minions with  the  jarings  of  controversy,  but  to  enforce  the 
principles  of  morality.  What  would  that  tolerating  prince 
think  of  a  Catholic  Prelate,  who  in  a  pamphlet,  would  ring 
the  alarm  all  over  his  dominions,  and  inform  his  Majesty, 
that  none  but  his  subjects  of  the  established  religion  were  en- 
titled to  national  confidence,  and  thus  inspire  his  subjects, 
not  with   mutual   confidence,  but    with   mutual   jealousy, 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  283 

fear,  and  distrust  ?   I  leave  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  to 
judge. 

When  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  begins  his  query,  with 
these  words,  4  if  there  were  an  insurrection  of  Protestants 
4  in  Bohemia,  for  the  purpose  of  robbing  the  established  Ro- 
'  man  Catholic  clergy,  and  there  might  have  been  Protes- 
4  tants  enough  if  the  perfidious  Cruelty  of  the  late  Empress 
4  had  not  nearly  rooted  them  out.'* 

When  his  Lordship  begins  his  query  with  such  words, 
I  must  take  the  liberty  of  reminding  him,  that  in  his  short 
query  there  are  two  fallacies.  The  first  fallacy  is  in  these 
words,  if  there  were  an  insurrection  of  Protestants  in  Bohemia. 
For  the  insurgents  in  the  South  of  Ireland,  were  merely 
Catholics,  as  I  have  proved  in  my  narrative :  they  were  a 
motley  group  of  different  religions,  complaining  both  of 
tithes  and  tithe-jobbers.  Our  readers  will  be  surprised  that 
in  the  course  of  our  controversy,  we  have  been  so  sparing 
of  latin  words ;  this  fallacy  then  is  called  by  the  logicians 
a  dicto  simpliciter  ad  dictum  secundum  quid ;  when  we  confine 
to  a  few  what  is  common  to  many,  and  vice  versa.  The 
second  fallacy  consists  in  supposing  that  my  writings  have  a 
tendency  to  rob  the  Protestant  Clergy  ;  and  this  fallacy  is 
called  by  the  logicians  de  falso  supponente — a  false  supposi- 
tion, which  the  respondent  answers  with  a  flat  denial,  by 
saying  nego  suppositum. 

When  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  calls  the  late  Empress 
Queen,  cruel  and  perfidious,  I  wish  he  were  a  little  more 
courtly  and  flattering  in  his  epithets ;  rudeness  to  the  fair 
sex,  from  an  ascetick  or  hermit  like  me,  who  by  the  obliga- 
tions of  celibacy  had  not  an  opportunity  of  polishing  and 
refining  my  manners  by  a  more  frequent  and  friendly  inter- 
course with  the  softest  and  fairest  part  of  the  creation; 
rudeness  in  me  would  have  some  excuse  to  plead,  but  in  his 
attack  on  the  illustrious  fair,  little  or  no  excuse  can  be 
pleaded  for  the  Lord  Bishop,  who  from  his  early  days  was 
at  liberty  to  court  and  pray;  to  repeat  the  Penitential 
Psalms  with  David,  and  to  compliment  with  Otway  : 

O  Woman,  lovely  woman  !  nature  form'd  thee 

To  temper  man  ;  we  had  been  brutes  without  thee. 

•  See  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloync's  Pamphlet,  page  111 ;  fifth  Edition. 


284  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.. 

Little  or  no  excuse  then  can  be  pleaded  in  favour  of  the 
Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  when  he  treats  the  late  Empress 
Queen  with  such  severity  :•  for  she  was  neither  cruel  nor 
perfidious.  His  Lordship  was  not  a  member  of  her  Privy 
Council,  to  know  the  nature  of  her  compacts  with,  or  pro- 
mises to  her  subjects;  compacts  and  promises  in  the  per- 
formance of  which  no  Sovereign  could  be  more  honourable 
and  punctual.  She  had  in  her  dominions  the  descendants 
of  those  German  boors  who  had  attempted  to  dethrone  her 
ancestors.  Those  men  were  under  legal  restraints  for 
their  fathers'  guilt,  in  which  they  had  no  part.  It  was  their 
unhappy  fate,  in  common  with  many  others,  to  be  victims  to 
human  laws,  which  by  a  faint  resemblance  of  Omnipotence, 
make  of  the  folly,  or  madness,  or  weakness  of  one  genera- 
tion, a  kind  of  original  and  hereditary  sin,  which  afflicts  in  a 
long  succession  the  innocent  posterity,  with  this  difference, 
that  the  offence  against  the  Deity  is  instantly  forgiven  upon 
repentance,  or  the  application  of  the  remedy  which  mercy 
appoints  to  counteract  the  rigour  of  justice.  But  human 
legislators  all  over  Europe,  have  given  proofs  of  their  om- 
nipotence in  penal  codes  which  immortalize  the  punishment 
ages  after  the  death  of  the  guilt,  and  require  a  rigorous  atone- 
ment from  the  sober  and  innocent  decendants,  for  the  frenzy 
of  their  forefathers.  They  have  their  patent  in  Scripture, 
wherein  we  read,  I  have  §aid,  ye  are  Gods  and  all  Sons  of  the 
Most  High.  But  Dryden's  Indian  Emperor  was  tortured  for 
paying  a  greater  veneration  to  the  bright  luminary  of  the  day, 
than  to  a  book  bound  up  in  sheep  skin,  which  Pizzaro's 
chaplain  called  the  Bible,  and  of  which  the  unhappy  prince 
knew  nothing.  To  each  of  those  legislators  who  punished 
their  subjects  for'hereditary  errors,  or  their  forefathers'  guilt, 
Dryden's  Indian  Emperor  would  say, 

If  thou  art  that  most  croel  God,  whose  eyes 
Delight  in  blood,  and  human  sacrifice. 

Such  was  the  state  of  the  Hussites  in  the  Empress  Queen's 
dominions,  and  such  was  the  case  of  Catholics  and  Dissenters 
under  Protestant  Sovereigns,  when  prelates  of  the  Lord  Bi- 
shop of  Cloyne's  philanthropy  directed  their  councils;  as  the 
Reverend  Mr.  Samuel  Barber  of  Rathfryland,  has  ingeni- 

*  Rudeness  would  be  an  improper  word  when  I  am  animadverting  on  the  writings  of 
a  Bishop. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  285 

ously  and  pointedly  remarked  to  the  Lord  Bishop  of 
Cloyne.* 

The  state  of  the  Hussites  in  Bohemia  was  not  worse  than 
the  state  of  the  Dissenters  and  Catholics  in  Ireland,  even 
so  late  as  the  beginning  of  that  illustrious  Empress's 
reign. 

That  magnanimous  Heroine,  surrounded  by  numerous 
and  powerful  foes,  ready  to  invade  her  dominions,  and 
to  ornament  the  triumphal  car  with  the  procession  of  a 
captive  Queen,  worked  up  the  softer  soul  to  a  martial 
firmness.  Reduced  to  fifteen  thousand  men,  against  the 
numerous  armies  of  powerful  Sovereigns,  she  took  in  her 
arms  the  present  Emperor,  who  was  then  in  his  cradle, 
shewed  him  to  her  subjects  of  every  religious  description, 
'  behold  your  prince  unable  to  protect  you  ;  defend  his  rights, 
4  and  when  those  infant  hands  will  be  able  to  wield  the 
4  Sceptre,  the  grateful  remembrance  of  your  services  will 
4  procure  you  the  love,  favour,  and  protection  of  your 
4  Sovereign.' 

It  was  the  characteristic  of  the  rude  courtiers  and  stern 
divines  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign,  not  to  pity  a  Queen  in 
distress ;  but  at  the  sight  of  Maria  Teresa  controuling: 
fortune  on  the  verge  of  ruin,  a  generous  ardour  glowed 
in  every  breast.  Her  Protestant  subjects  of  Hungary 
flocked  to  her  banners,  and  as  the  reward  of  their  loy- 
alty, she  repealed  the  restrictive  laws  which  former  So- 
vereigns had  enacted.  As  a  proof  of  her  fidelity  to  her 
promise,  she  ordered  her  son's  picture  to  be  hung  up 
in  their  houses  of  worship,  making  it  high  treason  to 
molest  them  in  the  exercise  of  their  religion.  What  the 
mother  began  in  her  hereditary  kingdom,  the  son  com- 
pleted all  over  his  dominions. 

This  is  the  historical  information  which  the  Lord  Bishop 
of  Cloyne  should  have  given  his  readers.  But  it  would  not 
answer  his  ends  :  cruelty,  perfidy,  and  persecution  are  his 
favourite  theme ;  generosity,  humanity,  and  toleration  are 
quite  shadowed  in  his  picture.  Catholic  powers  are  em- 
bracing their  subjects,  without  inquiring  into  their  cate- 
chism: if  an  enemy   of  toleration  were   as  industrious   in 

*  See  Remarks  on  a  Pamphlet,  entitled  "  The  Present  State  of  the  Church  of  Irc- 
I*nd,"  by  Samuel  Barber. 


286  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS'. 

translating  into  French  or  German,  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne*sr 
pamphlet,  as  he  has  been  in  translating  Ghilini's  letter,  and 
the  Bishop's  consecration  oath  into  English;  violation  of 
faith  with  heretics,  and  other  charges :  if  in  consequence  of 
the  impression  his  pamphlet  had  made  -on  the  public  minds, 
Catholic  princes,  prelates,  and  doctors,  read  the  clause  pro- 
posing to  empower  the  civil  magistrates  to  pull  down,  level, 
and  prostrate  Roman  Catholic  chapels  upon  the  deposition 
of  one  witness;  if  they  read  all  the  pamphlets  published  of 
late  against  the  Catholic  body,  and  knew  the  steps  that  are 
taking  in  order  to  degrade  them;  I  appeal  to  his  Lordship, 
and  to  the  public,  whether  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne's  pamphlet, 
and  the  proceedings  now  mentioned,  would  tend  to  promote 
toleration  ? 

What  was  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne's  intention  in  abusing  the 
memory  of  the  Empress  Queen  ?  Why  has  not  he  proposed 
her  good  qualities,  and  the  tolerating  spirit  of  her  son  as 
models  for  imitation  ?  Or  does  he  really  believe  the  case  of 
a  Bohemian  Hussite,  now  restored  to  the  privilege  of  the 
great  and  inalienable  charter,  to  which  a  man  guilty  of  no 
personal  crime  against  the  state  is  entitled  ?  Does  he  really 
believe  his  case,  and  that  of  an  Irish  Catholic  to  be  quite 
similar  ?  If  the  Irish  Catholics  profess  the  religion  of  the 
greatest  monarchs,  and  the  creed  of  flourishing  Universities, 
one  would  imagine  that  their  faith  should  not  make  them  ob- 
jects of  contempt.  They  introduced  no  new  religion  into  the 
state,  nor  encroached  upon  any  man's  property.  They  had 
the  lands  of  their  fathers,  and  the  religion  of  their  educa- 
tion, ages  before  their  Sovereigns  thought  fit  to  change  their 
creeds.  Their  blood  flows  in  the  veins  of  the  Protestant 
nobility  and  gentry  of  Ireland,  whose  pedigree  is  proclaimed 
the  more  illustrious,  in  proportion  as  they  trace  it  back  to 
Catholic  times.  Their  loyalty  at  home,  and  their  valour 
abroad,  when  disqualifying  laws,  and  the  thirst  of  glory 
urged  them  to  dispute  the  laurel  under  the  banners  of  foreign 
kings,  cannot  disgrace  the  kindred  of  affinity  the  Catholic 
noblemen  and  gentlemen  may  claim  to  the  Protestant  nobi- 
lity and  gentry  of  the  land.  Had  the  island  been  even  sub- 
dued by  the  sword  of  the  conqueror,  conquest  itself  has  its 
limits  circumscribed  by  justice.  Transfer  of  allegiance,  and 
Xhe   tribute   paid   to  the  former   Sovereign,  is  all  that  the 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  287 

conqueror  is  entitled  to.  Locke  would  grant  him  no  more, 
but  would  secure  in  the  unchangeable  profession  of  their 
consciences  and  inheritance,  the  subjects  who  had  changed 
their  masters.  They  had  the  prescription  of  ages  to  plead 
for  their  religion  and  properties,  when  the  wrecks  of  both 
were  secured  to  them  by  the  laws  of  nations  under  the  walls 
of  Limerick.  This  capitulation,  which  it  was  in  their  power 
to  break  forty-eight  hours  after  the  interchange  of  the  arti- 
cles, they  adhered  to  inviolably.  It  was  shamefully  broken 
by  the  daughter  of  the  very  king  to  whom  they  had  sworn, 
allegiance,  though  from  the  day  on  which  it  was  signed 
until  this  very  hour,  not  a  pistol  was  fired,  or  a  sword  drawn 
by  a  Catholic  in  this  kingdom  against  the  state.  Such 
being  the  case,  which  no  man  can  contradict,  what  must 
not  be  the  indignation  of  every  man  of  feeling,  when  he 
sees  about  two  millions  of  Irish  subjects  treated  with 
as  little  ceremony  as  if  they  were  a  set  of  negro  slaves 
upon  a  West  India  plantation ;  compared  to  a  pack  of  hounds 
impatient  at  the  view  of  the  game  ;  and  to  a  set  of  treacher- 
ous, insidious,  and  faithless  Popish  rebels,  to  be  cut  off  by 
his  Majesty's  sword.*  Could  mortals  foresee  that,  in  the 
year  eighty-seven,  a  clause  would  be  introduced  into  the 
Irish  House  of  Commons,  for  the  purpose  of  pulling  down, 
levelling  and  prostrating  Roman  Catholic  chapels,  if  one 
witness  swore  before  two  magistrates  that  an  unlawful  oath 
was  taken  in  said  chapel,  or  in  any  place  adjoining  thereto  ! 
It  would  be  more  honourable  to  banish  the  whole  Catholic 
body  out  of  the  kingdom,  after  giving  them  sufficient  time 
and  notice  for  selling  their  properties,  than  to  oner  them  the 
insult  of  proposing  on  the  evidence  of  a  single  witness  the 
destruction  of  their  houses  of  worship,  in  the  course  of  the 
same  session  when  a  member  of  Parliament  talked  of  heads 
of  a  bill  to  prevent  the  stealing  of  dogs. 

We  read  of  two  philosophers  in  antiquity,  the  one  con- 
tinually laughing,  and  the  other  continually  crying  at  the 
scenes  of  human  life.  This  contrast  would  unite  them  both. 
Christian  houses  of  worship  to  be  demolished,  and  the  ken- 
nels of  dogs  to  be  protected  by  the  law. 

*  See  Theophilus,  calLed  by  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne  an  able  writer  against  whom  it  is 
hard  to  prove  a  negative,  and  (Proh  Deurn  et  homiuum  fides  !)  by  Counsellor  Douiinick 
Trant,  a  well  meaning-  writer. 

P   P 


288  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

After  what  I  have  related  in  the  course  of  my  narrative, 
and  in  the  vindication  of  my  writings,  I  cannot  see  how  the 
Irish  Catholics  deserved  such  severe  and  disgraceful  usage, 
as  to  have  their  houses  of  worship  treated  with  the  same  in- 
dignity as  if  they  were  houses  of  prostitution,  or  cabinets  of 
leagues  and  confederacies  against  the  crown  and  dignity  of 
our  most  gracious  Sovereign.  If  they  were  either  the  one  or 
the  other,  they  would  not  be  destroyed  upon  the  evidence  of 
one  witness,  at  a  time  when  twenty  witnesses  would  take  a 
hundred  false  oaths  for  the  twentieth  part  of  the  materials 
(which  were  proposed  as  a  reward)  for  the  demolishcrs  of 
chapels :  much  less  would  a  temple  of  Venus  be  demolished, 
because  a  thousand  unlawful  oaths  would  be  taken  in  places 
adjoining  it.  The  only  fault  with  which  the  Catholic  body 
can  be  upbraided,  is  their  misfortune  originating  from  their 
attachment  to  their  religion,  without  any  disloyalty  to  their 
Kings ;  but  unfortunate  people  ought  not  to  be  insulted. 
The  most  flourishing  empires,  as  well  as  individuals,  are 
not  proof  against  the  revolutions  of  time,  and  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  fortune. 

Marius,  the  great  conqueror  of  the  Cimbri,  was  seen  in  a 
reclining  posture,  and  forlorn  and  half  famished  on  the  ruins 
of  Carthage,  formerly  the  rival  of  Rome.  The  sight  of  such 
a  change  disarmed  the  officer  who  was  sent  to  behead  him, 
when  the  other  cried  out,  go  and  tell  the  governor  that  you 
have  seen  Marius  hungry  on  the  ruins  of  Carthage.  Tra- 
vellers pay  a  certain  respect  to  the  ruins  of  old  temples  and 
other  buildings  stripped  of  their  former  decorations  ;  and  it 
would  be  matter  of  surprise,  if  in  the  very  blaze  of  tolera- 
tion, the  legislature  of  Ireland  would  pay  such  little  regard 
to  the  descendants  of  the  people,  who  in  former  times  open- 
ed their  houses  and  seminaries  for  the  reception  of  all  the 
natives  of  hurope,  who  flocked  to  them  for  improvement, 
and  erected  magnificent  structures  in  honour  of  the  Deity, 
as  to  force  them  to  pray  in  the  open  air.  The  dissolution 
of  morals  amongst  the  lower  orders,  deprived  of  a  place  of 
worship,  and  the  scandal  of  Europe  would  be  the  con- 
sequence of  such  a  rigorous  law.  The  Irish  senate  foresaw 
it,  and  to  their  honour  rejected  the  clause. 

The  Catholics  of  Ireland  should  be  very  thankful  to  ths 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 


289 


Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  for  endeavouring'  to  procure  them, 
the  confidence  of  their  rulers.  And  the  Dissenters  and  Ca- 
tholics of  Ireland  are  no  less  thankful  to  you,  Counsellor 
Trant,  for  your  kind  assistance  in  becoming  his  auxiliary, 
and  painting  both  as  internal  confederated  enemies  against  the 
constitution.*  You,  doubtless,  glory  in  a  revolution  which 
has  spread  the  broad  basis  of  your  civil  and  religious  liberty  ; 
you  should  not  have  forgotten  the  heroes  of  Enniskilleo,  nor 
the  defenders  of  Derry,  against  the  forces  of  James  the 
Second,  to  whom  the  latter  had  sworn  allegiance,  and  whose 
son-in-law  the  former  had  placed  on  the  throne.  For  a  gen- 
tleman who  is  so  well  versed  in  history  as  you  are,  should 
know  that  the  combined  efforts  of  the  Dissenters  and  Catholics 
could  have  turned  the  scale  at  that  critical  period,  and  put  a 
speedy  end  to  the  contests.  Both  parties  were  well  rewarded 
for  their  exertions  in  support  of  the  cause  which  to  each 
seemed  best :  the  daughter  riveted  the  chains  of  the  Dis- 
senters, who  had  procured  her  the  throne,  by  the  exaltation 
of  her  brother-in-law,  and  gave  the  coup  de  grace  to  the  Ca- 
tholics, for  having  fought  in  her  father's  cause,  before  they 
could  have  any  notion  that  she  would  sway  the  sceptre  which 
dropped  from  his  feeble  and  unnerved  hands.  Since  that 
memorable  sera,  so  undeservedly  degrading  to  both,  the  Dis- 
senters and  Catholics  of  Ireland  have  behaved  with  equal 
loyalty  to  each  succeeding  monarch. 

The  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  and  you  have  paid  them  a 
very  handsome  compliment— the  Bishop  excludes  them  from 
national  confidence,  on  account  of  their  readiness  to  pull 
down  and  set  up :  and  you  proclaim  them  internal  confede- 
rated enemies  against  the  constitution. 

The  Reverend  Mr.  Barber  has  shaved  the  Lord  Bishop  of 
Cloyne  with  a  keen  and  polished  razor ;  and  he  is  very  capa- 
ble of  trimming  your  pamphlet.  May  I  ask  you  a  few 
questions  ?  Can  you  assign  a  reason  for  calling  Theophilus  a 
well-meaning  writer  f  Is  it  for  calling  your  flesh  and  blood  a 
pack  of  hounds?  You  are  the  son  of  respectable  Roman  Ca- 
tholic parents  :  you  need  not  blush  at  it,  for  the  reasons  al- 
ready alleged.     Is  it  in  your  father's  loyal  and  hospitable 

*  Sec  Ccuinsellov  Trant"'?  Pamphlet 


290  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

family,  you  have  discovered  any  plot  against  the  state  ?  Is 
it  amongst  the  respectable  Dissenters  and  Catholics  of  the 
county  of  Cork  ?  You  have  travelled  over  the  most  refined 
nations  in  Europe,  and  conversed  with  the  Roman  nobility, 
not  far  from  the  tombs  of  Scipio  and  Emilius.  In  Catholic 
countries  have  you  discovered  any  treacherous  correspon- 
dence between  the  Catholics  of  Ireland  and  the  Princes  of 
the  houses  of  Bourbon  and  Sardinia,  whom  your  well-mean- 
ing Theopkdns  points  out  as  their  deliverers  ?  You  go  over 
the  same  ground  with  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  and  talk, 
of  Papists  disarming  Protestants.  Did  not  this  happen  in  the 
night  time  ?  Are  you  so  clear-sighted  as  to  discover  a  man's 
religion  in  the  dark,  when  you  are  slumbering  on  your  pil- 
low ?  I  doubt  not  but  that  some  Protestants  gave  up  their  arms 
with  as  much  reluctance  as  Counsellor  Trant  would  reach 
forth  his  hand  to  receive  the  Commission  of  a  Judge,  when 
the  Quarter  Sessions  are  to  be  established  in  Munster,  or 
the  patent  of  a  Vicar  General.  For  numbers  of  them  would 
not  be  much  concerned  if  proctors,  tithe- canters,  and  tithes, 
were  at  a  great  distance  beyond  Purgatory  ;  which  contributed 
so  much  to  the  establishment  of  those  church  revenues, 
which  give  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  and  the  Counsellor 
an  occasion  of  rough-handling  the  Catholics  and  Dissenters 
of  Ireland.  The  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  preaches  against 
what  he  dtemsthe  superstition  ;  but  likes  to  live  well  by  the 
institution  to  which  it  gave  rise. 

In  the  same  strain  with  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  you 
speak  of  notices  threatening  to  burn  a  new  church,  and  to 
change  an  old  church  into  a  mass-house. 

Is  Counsellor  Trant  in  earnest  ?  Does  he  really  believe  that 
a  Catholic  ever  posted  up  that  notice  ?  Is  the  new  church 
burnt  ?  Is  the  old  church  sprinkled  with  holy  water  ?  If 
he  gave  himself  the  trouble  to  read  my  addresses  to  the 
Whiteboys,  with  the  same  attention  with  which  Doctor 
Woodward  read  thern,  in  order  to  brand  me  with  sedition; 
he  must  know  the  manner  in  which  I  ridiculed  the  idea. 
Where  would  they  have  found  a  chaplain  to  give  them  mass 
in  that  church  ?  Or  does  Counsellor  Trant  believe  that 
night  strollers  who  would  not  hear  mass  from  their  own  pas- 
tors,  would  die   martyrs    for   prayers   near   the  Bishop  of 


MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS.  291 

Cloyne's  communion  table  ?  Apage  Nugce !  This  I  re- 
marked before,  and  I  here  repeat  it.  But  will  Mr.  O'Leary 
deny  that  such  a  notice  was  posted  up  ?  By  no  means.  He 
has  read  the  memoirs  of  artful  knaves,  and  knows  that  there 
are  still  living,  and  will  be  found  to  the  end  of  time  ingenious 
Hoyles,  who  can  lay  down  rules  for  playing  a  game  of  political 
whist.  A  Cardinal,  whose  life  was  a  disgrace  to  the  purple, 
got  information  that  Pope  Innocent  the  Eleventh,  intended  to 
expel  him  the  Sacred  College  in  consequence  of  complaints 
daily  preferred  against  him  to  his  eminence ;  the  crafty 
courtier  wrote  to  the  Pope  an  anonymous  letter  against 
himself,  informing  his  Holiness  that  the  Cardinal  was  so 
profligate,  that  a  Roman  lady  was  to  be  found  with  him  the 
following  night,  in  such  an  apartment  of  his  palace,  and  re- 
questing his  Holiness  to  procure  personal  information ;  the 
Pope,  who  was  a  man  of  the  most  rigid  morals,  came 
with  his  guards  in  the  dead  of  night  to  the  Cardinal's  pa- 
lace, and  forced  his  way  into  the  apartment,  where  to  his 
surprise,  he  found  the  holy  man  with  his  arms  expanded 
before  a  crucifix,  and  on  his  bare  knees  upon  a  flag  instead 
of  carpet.  The  stratagem  succeeded,  and  from  that  night 
forward  he  never  would  listen  to  any  complaints  against 
the  Cardinal.  Rather  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  and 
Counsellor  Trant,  must  produce  the  person  who  post- 
ed up  the  notice  threatening  to  burn  a  new  church,  or 
leave  me  at  liberty  to  attribute  the  notice  to  a  much  si- 
milar stratagem.  They  should  have  inquired  whether 
tithe-jobbers  did  not  contrive  to  set  fire  to  their  own 
corn,  in  order  to  prevent  any  alteration  in  the  system  of 
tithes,  and  to  draw  the  vengeance  of  the  laws  upon  deluded 
peasants,  who  were  already  but  too  obnoxious.  Many 
evidences  should  be  produced  to  support  Counsellor  Trant's 
charge  ;  and  if  he  produced  ten  thousand,  not  one  of  them, 
but  upon  examination,  would  be  discovered  a  false 
witness. 

That  Doctor  Woodward,  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne, 
come  from  Westminster  School  to  enjoy  an  Irish  Bishopric, 
should  insult  the  natives  of  Ireland,  both  Dissenters  and  Ca- 
tholics, by  excluding  them  from  confidence,  I  am  not  sur- 
prised.    Every  allowance  must  be  made  for  the  prejudices 


292  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

of  early  education.  Perhaps  at  the  age  of  twenty,  he  ima- 
gined that  the  Irish  walked  upon  all  fours,  as  an  English 
Judge  at  the  age  of  forty,  a  few  years  ago,  wrote  to  his 
agent,  to  know  whether  there  was  a  slated  house  in  Dublin, 
to  hire  for  his  accommodation  on  his  arrival.  His  Lord- 
ship is  further  by  his  profession  and  consecration  hostile  to 
all  doctrines  except  his  own,  and  interested  in  tithes,  which 
in  Ireland  bring  him  in  a  greater  income  than  he  could  ex- 
pect in  England.  But  that  Counsellor  Trant,  a  native  of  the 
land,  a  man  of  the  world,  whose  mind  should  be  enlarged 
by  a  more  extensive  intercourse  with  people  of  every  descrip- 
tion, and  a  gentleman  of  independent  fortune,  should  stand 
forth  as  a  pamphlet  writer,  in  support  of  the  charges  of  the 
well-meaning,  scurrilous  and  slanderous  Theophilus,  must 
be  to  his  acquaintances  a  matter  of  surprise.  There  is  not, 
however,  a  fortune-teller  in  the  county  of  Cork,  but  could 
guess  at  the  reason  ;  and  the  reason  must  be  very  pressing, 
when  Counsellor  Trant  commits  himself  with  almost  the 
bulk  of  the  natives  of  Ireland,  by  calling  them  internal 
confederated  enemies  against  the  constitution  of  this  king- 
dom. 

It  is  to  be  expected  that  in  the  second  edition,  and  all  fu- 
ture editions  of  his  pamphlet,  he  will  mark  down  in  large  le- 
gible characters  the  above  assertion  amongst  the  errata; 
otherwise  he  must  sanctify  himself  among  the  beneficed  clergy, 
for  no  Dissenting  or  Catholic  gentleman  can  with  any  warmth 
of  affection  keep  company  with  their  accuser. 

The  senate  of  the  nation  is  now  assembled.  The  Lord 
Bishop  of  Cloyne  and  Counsellor  Trant  are  in  Dublin;  and 
I  am  here  to  meet  them.  I  call  on  them  both  in  the  face 
of  the  kingdom,  to  bring  forth  their  charges  against  the  Ca- 
tholic body.  I  call  on  them  to  contradict  what  I  have  re- 
lated. I  call  on  them  to  prove  Popish  confederacy  against 
church  or  state.  I  cite  them  before  the  senate  of  the  nation. 
— They  are  silent,  they  decline  the  summons.  Let  the  reader 
infer  the  consequence. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  293 


SECTION  THE  THIRD; 

Containing  a  Refutation  of  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne'' s  Argu- 
ments, drawn  from  the  Legate's  Letter  and  the  Catholic 
Bishop's  Consecration  Oath. 

In  the  persecutions  against  the  primitive  Christians, 
their  enemies  used  to  dress  them  in  the  skins  of  sheep  and 
other  animals,  and  after  having  forced  on  their  bodies  their 
livery  of  contempt,  used  to  cry  out  Christians  ad  bestias  ;  to 
the  wild  beasts  with  the  Christians.  The  enemies  of  the  Ca- 
tholics of  this  kingdom  have  been  so  industrious  of  late,  in 
dressing  them  in  a  strange  drapery,  and  attributing  to  them 
sedition,  hostility  to  the  state,  and  doctrines  inconsistent  with  the 
security  of  the  throne,  as  to  excite  a  general  clamour  Catho* 
lici  ad  funem ;  to  the  halter  with  the  Catholics.  To  refute 
every  charge  would  make  up  a  volume.  My  defence  is 
already  swelled  to  a  tolerable  size  ;  and  after  a  full  vindica- 
tion of  the  Catholic  body,  and  of  my  own  conduct,  I  think 
it  needless  to  take  up  my  reader's  time  with  any  farther 
tedious  discussions. 

However,  as  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  has  favoured  the 

f)ublic  with  a  translation  of  Ghilini's  letter,  and  the  Catho- 
ic  Bishop's  consecration  oath,  1  must  trespass  further  on 
the  patience  of  my  readers.  The  Catholic  body  must  be 
grossly  misrepresented  if  the  public  are  to  believe  that  the 
opinionr  of  Casuists  make  a  part  of  their  creed.  Were  I  to 
sum  up  all  the  erroneous  opinions  of  the  Divines  who  pro- 
fessed themselves  members  of  the  church  of  England,  and 
the  opinions  of  several  other  Protestant  Divines;  did  1  col- 
lect them  all  into  a  volume  with  this  title,  the  Creed  of  the 
Right  Reverend  Doctor  Woodward,  the  Lord  Bishop  of 
Cloyne,  how  would  he  gaze  with  astonishment,  and  exclaim 
against  my  want  of  sincerity  and  candour !  In  the  very  sup- 
position then,  that  Burke  and  Ghiliui  were  really  of  the 
opinion   which  the  Lord  Bishop   of  Cloyne    attributes  to 


294  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

them,  how  far  does  it  affect  the  Catholics  of  Ireland,  or  the 
Catholics  all  over  the  world  ?  When  the  Elector  of  Saxony 
proposed  a  case  of  conscience  to  Luther  and  Melancthon 
to  know  whether  in  the  absence  of  his  wife  or  during  her 
pregnancy  he  would  make  use  of  another  ?  Those  Casuists 
answered  in  the  affirmative.  A  case  of  conscience  much 
similar  was  proposed  to  Bishop  Burnet.  After  labouring 
much,  and  torturing  texts  of  Scripture,  the  humane  Divine 
decided  that  polygamy  was  lawful.  Would  it  not  be  ridicu- 
lous in  me  to  force  into  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne's  con- 
science, such  decisions  as  articles  of  creed  ?  Nay,  some 
Protestant  Divines  went  further.  Doctor  Dopping,  Bishop 
of  Meath,  preached  publicly  in  Christ  church,  Dublin, 
that  violation  of  faith  with  Catholics  was  lawful,  in  justifica- 
tion of  the  breach  of  the  articles  of  Limerick.  To  several 
Christian  Divines  then  can  be  applied,  what  Cicero  said  of 
the  philosophers  of  his  time,  that  there  was  no  absurdity  so 
glaring,  but  had  some  philosopher  to  support  it.  If  then  the 
Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  intends  to  swell  the  Catholic 
creed,  with  the  opinions  of  Catholic  Schoolmen,  I  shall  re- 
pay him  tenfold,  by  sending  to  him  a  collection  of  absurdi- 
ties and  strange  doctrines  advanced  by  Protestant  authors. 
Every  man  of  sense  will  acknowledge  this  a  sufficient  answer 
to  his  Lordship's  remark  on  Ghilini's  letter.  And  what  is 
Ghilini's  opinion  to  countervail  the  doctrine  sworn  to  by  the 
Prelates  and  Catholics  of  Ireland,  both  clergy  and  laity  ? 
Or  does  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  intend  to  hold  us  up  to 
our  King  and  Country,  as  unprincipled  perjurers  ?  This  is 
severe  usage  to  men,  labouring  under  so  many  disqualifica- 
tions, because  they  refuse  to  take  an  oath  against  the  con- 
viction of  their  consciences.  Let  the  most  profligate 
amongst  us  swear  against  our  whole  creed,  he  is  believed, 
and  becomes  an  adoptive  child  of  the  state.  When  we 
swear  against  imputed  doctrines  without  fee  or  reward,  it  is 
hard  indeed  if  we  deserve  no  credit.  But  without  being  an 
apologist  for  Ghilini,  much  less  for  Burke,  has  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  Cloyne  fairly  stated  the  case,  and  the  principles 
on  which  the  titular  Archbishop  of  Rhodes  rejected  the 
oath,  which  in  reality  he  did  not,  nor  could  understand  as 
well  as  the  Catholics  of  Ireland  ?     Did  he  say,  or  could  he 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  295 

have  the  absurd  effrontery  to  say  that  Catholics  could  not  in 
conscience  swear  allegiance  to  a  Protestant  King,  when  in 
the  purest  ages  of  the  Christian  Religion,  the  primitive 
Christians  swore  allegiance  to  the  Heathen  Caesars  ?  When 
the  rigid  Tertullian,  a  stranger  to  fear  or  flattery,  who 
would  expire  in  the  tortures  of  the  rack  for  his  belief,  has 
left  us  an  abridgment  of  the  prayer  offered  up  by  Christian 
subjects  for  their  Pagan  rulers.  '  We  pray,  says  this  great 
'  man,  We  pray  for  the  Emperors,  and  that  God  may  grant 

*  them  a  long  life  and  a  quiet  reign :  that  their  family  may 

*  be  safe,  and  their  forces  valiant :  their  senate  wise,  their 
'  people  orderly  and  virtuous :  that  they  may  rule  in  peace, 
'and  enjoy  all  the  blessings  they  can  desire  either  as 
'men  or  princes.  Et  omnia  quae  tendunt  ad  Caesar's 
'  votum.1* 

Upon  what  ground  does  Ghilini  reject  the  oath?  from 
ignorance.  It  is  evident  from  his  letter  that  he  did  not 
know  the  nature  of  it.  His  very  words  prove  it  to  demon- 
stration. I  shall  give  them  in  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne's 
own  translation. 

Extract  from  Ghilini' 's  letter. 

'  Besides,  whether  he  be  inviolably  bound  as  the  new  form 
"  prescribes,  to  be  always  true  and  faithful  to  his  Majesty, 
'  which  is  afterwards  explained  to  affirm  upon  oath  according 
'  to  the  sense  intended  by  the  laics  of  Ireland,  is  to  me  a  very 
'  dubious  point.1  [Remark  here,  Irish  reader,  how  Ghilini 
doubts.]     '  For  since  the  laws  of  England  and  Ireland  re- 

*  cognise  the  King  as  head   of  the  Church,  and  the  foun- 

*  tain  of  its  spiritual  authority,  he  who  takes  such  an  oath 

*  and  promises  to  be  faithful  to  his  Majesty,  according  to 
1  the  prescription  of  the  laws  of  Ireland,  might  also  recog- 
1  nize  the  King  as  head  of  the  Church,  and  the  fountain  of 

*  its  spiritual  authority.     Should  it  happen  that  such  expres- 

*  sions  either  were  or  could  be  so  understood,  your  most 
'illustrious  Lordships  and  each  of  the  Catholics  themselves, 
'  ought  to  take  notice  that  this  is  a  most  manifest  error, 
'and  directly  contrary   to   the   principles   of    the   Catholic 

*  Tertullian's  Apolojy, 


296  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

1  religion,  which  acknowledges  only  one  head  and  fountain 
'of  all  spiritual  authority,  namely,  the  Roman  Pontiff.' 

From  these  very  words  the  reader  may  know  that  the 
Nuncio  did  not  know  the  nature  of  the  oath.  He  confounds 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  and  imagines  that  the  Irish 
legislature  proposed  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Catholics, 
binding  them  to  acknowledge  the  King  as  Pope,  head  of  the 
universal  Church,  and  the  fountain  of  all  spiritual  authority  ; 
w  l  ereas  they  only  swore  that  no  foreign  Prince,  Prelate,  or 
Potentate,  hath  or  ought  to  have  any  civil  jurisdiction  within 
these  realms.  Hence  the  doubts  and  ignorance  of  an  Italian 
casuist,  are  trumpeted  over  three  kingdoms,  as  articles  of 
Catholic  belief,  and  wavtd  as  so  many  signals  for  perse- 
cution. 

Nor  does  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  discriminate  the 
clauses  of  the  oath  from  each  other ;  nor  explain  the  dis- 
tinctions of  which  Ghilini's  letter  is  susceptible,  with  that 
accuracy  to  which  he  should  have,  attended  if  he  expected 
an  answer. 

In  the  same  period  of  the  oath,  there  are  two  clauses,  the 
one  '  disclaiming  violation  of  faith  with  heretics,  as  an  arti- 
'  cle  of  Catholic  belief:'  the  other  'disclaiming  the  depo- 
1  sition  of  Kings,  in  consequence  of  Papal  excommunications.' 
The  Legate  gives  his  opinion,  that  the  condemnation  of  the 
latter  as  abominable  is  absolutely  intolerable,  because,  ac- 
cording to  him,  this  doctrine  (Hanc  Doctrinam)  has  been 
defended  and  contended  for  by  most  Catholic  nations,  and  the 
Holy  See  has  frequently  followed  it  in  practice. 

It  is  to  be  remarked,  that  he  speaks  in  the  singular  num- 
ber, (doctrinam  hanc,)  and  alludes  to  the  indirect  deposing 
power,  supported  by  some  ultramontane  Canonists,  whom 
the  Legate  in  consequence  of  his  prejudices  in  favour  of  the 
court  of  Home,  enlarges  into  most  Catholic  nations.  For 
violation  of  faith  with  heretics  was  never  defended  nor  con- 
tended for  by  Catholic  nations,  much  less  by  the  Apostolic 
Ste.  But  it  has  been  detested  and  exclaimed  against,  as  a 
black  slander,  invented  by  indelicate  controvertists,  in  order 
to  misrepresent  the  Catholic  doctrine,  and  to  bring  an  odium 
on  the  Apostolic  See.  This  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne 
should  know. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACES.  297 

If  he  had  no  authority  but  that  of  Doctor  Hayes,  who 
proved  it  a  slander  five  or  six  years  ago  in  Scotland  ;  or  of 
Mr.  O'Leary,  who  exclaimed  against  it  as  a  slander  about 
the  same  time  in  Ireland,  and  who  proclaims  it  a  slander 
still ;  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  might  plead  the  pliant 
policy  of  men,  who,  under  the  terror  of  prosecution,  wtre 
obliged  to  soften  their  doctrine.  But  when  he  reads  Natalis 
Alexander,  a  Dominican  friar,  in  his  dissertations  on  Ec- 
clesiastical History ;  Arnaldus,  in  his  apology,  and  so  many 
Catholic  divines  writing  in  Catholic  countries,  against  vio- 
lation of  faith  with  heretics,  and  making  it  out  downright 
slander;  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  might  have  spared 
himself  the  trouble  of  translating  Ghilini's  letter:  that  Le- 
gate then  must  allude  to  the  indirect  deposing  power  ex- 
ploded all  over  the  world,  though  supported  by  some  Ita- 
lian Canonists,  and  unsuccessfully  attempted  by  some  Popes, 
not  in  consequence  of  any  divine  right,  but  in  consequence 
of  a  temporal  claim,  founded  either  on  compacts  or  a  long 
prescription  pleaded,  against  monarchs,  wnose  predeces- 
sors had  rendered  their  kingdoms  tributary  to  the  Holy 
See. 

If  the  Protestant  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  who  is  so  ardent  for 
the  security  of  his  tithes,  (the  occasion  of  so  many  distur- 
bances in  this  kingdom,)  had  the  same  title  to  Peter's-pence, 
and  been  as  powerful  as  the  Roman  Pontiffs  were  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  reformation,  he  would  have  been  as  clamorous 
as  Pope  Paul  the  Fourth,  and  Sixtus  Quintus,  who  considered 
England  as  a  fief  of  the  Holy  See.*  For  the  generality  of 
church-men,  however  divided  as  to  creeds,  agree  very  well 
in  one  point,  viz.  not  to  part  with  what  they  have.  Hence  they 
are  called  Mortmain  in  law  form,  perhaps  from  the  gripe  of 
a  dead  man's  hand.  The  best  manner  of  living  on  £ood 
terms  with  them,  is  to  give  them  all,  and  take  nothing  from 
them:  but  such  is  not  the  present  humour  of  Catholic  Mo- 
narchs, who,  without  any  breach  of  the  Catholic  doctrine, 
and  in  defiance  of  the  thunders  of  the  Vatican,  lay  siege  to 
the  Pope's  cities,  if  he  gives  them  any  provocation.  Jn  vain 
would  he  fulminate  his  excommunications  on  the  score  of 

*  This  was  the  answer  of  Poue  Paul  the  Fourth,  to  Queen  Elizabeth's)  Ambassadors. 


298  MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS. 

temporalities.  They  are  considered  as  a  ftdmcn  brutem. 
The  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  then  either  misunderstands 
Ghilini's  letter,  or  tortures  it  as  he  tortured  Mr.  O'Leary's 
writings.  I  would  stake  my  life  this  very  instant,  that  if  the 
Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  wrote  to  the  Nuncio,  and  asked  him 
if  he  meant  in  his  letter  that  violation  of  faith  with  heretics, 
was  a  doctrine  defended,  contended  for  by  most  Catholic 
nations,  and  frequently  followed  in  practice  by  the  Holy 
See ;  I  would  stake  my  life  that  the  Nuncio  would  write  to 
the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  a  very  obliging  letter,  in  which 
he  would  disclaim  any  such  meaning,  equally  with  the  doc- 
trine. The  Nuncio  mentions  in  his  letter,  doctrinam,  doc- 
trine. The  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  changes  doctrine  into 
doctrines,  the  plural  number,  in  the  following  manner,  page 
twenty-two  of  his  pamphlet. 

1  The  Legate  treats  the  clauses  in  the  proposed  oath, 
6  containing  a  declaration  of  abhorrence  and  detestation  of 
4  the  doctrines,  that  faith  is  not  to  be  kept  with  heretics ;  and 
4  that  princes  deprived  by  the  Pope  may  be  deposed,  as  ab- 
4  solutely  intolerable,  because  those  doctrines  are  defended 
'  and  contended  for  by  most  Catholic  nations.'  Had  the 
Legate  expressed  himself  in  the  same  identical  words  with 
the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  there  would  be  no  need  of  any 
comment.  We  would  condemn  the  Legate's  ignorance,  and 
the  horror  of  his  doctrine  in  a  more  pointed  manner.  But 
here  it  is  a  Roman  courtier,  who  is  so  zealous  for  the  honour 
of  his  ultramontane  Canonists,  who  supported  the  discarded 
deposing  power,  and  takes  offence  that  their  doctrine 
should  be  called  abominable  ;  and  for  this  reason  says,  that 
such  a  stricture  is  intolerable.  The  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne, 
from  brotherly  love,  increases  the  ecclesiastical  funds,  by  ad- 
ding to  the  Archbishop  of  Rhodes's  doctrine  of  the  indirect 
deposing  power,  violation  of  faith  with  heretics,  of  which  the 
other  certainly  could  not  think.  Thus  one  Prelate  shews  an 
extraordinary  generosity  in  bestowing  on  his  Confrere  more 
than  he  would  accept  of  Nothing  more  then  can  be 
inferred  from  this  letter,  than  that  the  Titular  Arch- 
bishop of  Rhodes  doubts  the  validity  of  an  oath,  of 
the  nature  of  which  he  expresses  his  ignorance,  in  imagin- 
ing that  the  Catholics  of  Ireland  intended  to  make  a  Pope 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  299 

of  their  Sovereign.  In  his  very  ignorance  he  nevertheless 
shews  the  abhorrence  in  which  he  holds  a  false  oath. 
Whereas  in  the  alternative  of  perjury  or  suffering,  he  re- 
commends to  the  Catholics  to  suffer  for  ever  under  the 
penal  laws,  sooner  than  to  take  an  oath  which  he  deems 
erroneous.  The  same  can  be  said  of  Burke,  who  calls  it 
horrible  impiety,  to  say  that  a  Catholic  who  had  sworn 
allegiance  to  George  the  Third,  should  abjure  the  same 
King  if  he  became  a  Catholic.  Under  the  change  of  re- 
ligion, he  considers  the  oath  taken  to  a  Protestant  King 
still  binding,  when  he  alters  his  creed.  Of  what  advan- 
tage then  Ghilini's  letter  can  be  to  the  Lord  Bishop  of 
Cloyne's  cause,  after  the  bustle  it  has  occasioned,  let  the 
reader  determine.  This  case  of  conscience  proposed  to 
an  Italian,  by  a  doating  Prelate  who  filled  up  a  volume 
with  minutias  and  trifling  occurrences,  concerns  the  Ca- 
tholics of  Ireland  as  much  as  the  question  which  Rabelais 
proposed  to  the  logicians ;  whether  a  chimcera  bouncing  in 
a  vacuum,  could  eat  up  the  premises  of  a  syllogism? 
Numquid  chimcera  in  vacuo,  bombinans  possit  comedere, 
primas  intentiones  ? 

The  Lord  Bishop    of  Cloyne  cries   out  with  an   air  of 
triumph,  '  who  is  the  voucher  to  be  set  in  opposition  to  the 

*  Legate  of  the  Pope  V  And  I  raise  my  voice  in  my  turn. 
4  Who  is  the  Pope's  Legate  ?    A  man  who  did  not  know  the 

*  nature  of  the  subject  of  his  letter,  to  be  set  in  opposition  to 

*  the  Catholic  clergy  of  Ireland  ?    Or  who  is  the  Pope  him- 

*  self,  to  be  set  in  opposition  to  all  ages  acknowledging  the 
'  right  that  Temporal  Princes  have  to  the  allegiance  of  their 

*  subjects ;  whether  those  Princes  were  Trojans  or  Constan- 
1  tines?     Or   who   is   the  Lord   Bishop   of  Cloyne,  to  be 

*  fabricating  creeds  for  his  neighbours  ?'  Are  not  Catholic 
Prelates  better  and  more  competent  vouchers  of  the  Catholic 
doctrine,  than  a  person  reared  out  of  their  communion?  He 
may  alarm  the  ignorant  with  a  letter  which  the  Catholic 
Prelates  condemned  in  the  year  1775.  If  he  attacks  the 
Catholics  on  a  fair  ground,  why  does  not  he  explain  their 
genuine  principles  ?  Or  does  he  intend  to  sport  with  com- 
mon sense,  in  erecting  the  decision  of  every  doating  Casuist, 
into  an   article    pf  Catholic    belief?     If  he   does,    I  shall 


300  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

meet  him  on  his  own  ground  and  swell  his  treed  to  an  enor- 
mous  bulk,  by  adding  to  it  the  reveries  and  extravagant 
opinions  of  those  writers  who  attacked  the  church  of  Rome, 
and  at  the  same  time  struck  into  those  devious  paths,  in 
which  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  must  acknowledge  that 
scripture  was  not  their  guide  ;  or  if  he  acknowledges  it,  he 
must  renounce  his  creed. 

The  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  has  favoured  the  public  with 
the  Catholic  Bishops'  consecration  oath :  and  from  what  mo- 
tive ?  To  insinuate  to  the  public,  that  the  oath  of  allegiance 
they  have  taken  to  their  Sovereign  is  not  to  be  relied  on,  and 
consequently  that  they  and  their  flocks  are  not  to  be  trusted. 
I  should  imagine  that  common  justice  should  have  induced 
him,  not  to  throw  out  such  an  injurious  intimation,  and  that 
the  Catholic  Prelates  are  the  most  competent  judges  of  the 
sense  and  meaning  of  an  oath  which  they  take  at  their  con- 
secration. 

The  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  has  translated  the  entire  oath 
at  the  close,  and  given  the  most  obnoxious  clauses  of  it  in  the 
twenty-third  page  of  his  pamphlet.  Let  us  now  examine  the 
most  obnoxious  clauses  of  this  oath.  For  as  to  visiting  the 
thresholds  of  the  Apostles  every  three  years ;  I  believe  the 
Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  would  not  quarrel  with  his  fellow 
Prelates  whom  his  pamphlet  is  calculated  to  transport  out  of 
the  kingdom. 

I.  *  They  promise  to  be  faithful  and  obedient  to  Saint 

*  Peter  the  Apostle,  and  to  the  Holy  Roman  Church,  and 
'to  their  Lord  the  Pope,  and  his  successors  canonicaily 
c  entering.' 

II.  '  The  Roman  Papacy  and  the  royalties  of  Saint  Peter, 
'  to  assist  the  Pope  and  his  successors,  to  retain  and  defend 
'against  every  man.' 

III.  *  The  rights,  honours,  privileges  and  authority  of  the 

*  Holy  Roman  Church,  and  of  their  Lord  the  Pope,  and  his 
'  successors  aforesaid,  to  be  careful  to  preserve,  defend,  en- 

*  large,  and  promote.' 

IV.  '  Heretics,  schismatics,  and  rebels,  against  their  said 

*  Lord,  and  his  successors  aforesaid,  they  will,  to  the  ut- 
'  most  of  their  power,  prosecute  and  oppose.' 


MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS.  $0! 

V.  *  Not  to  be  concerned  in  any  thing  prejudicial  to  the 
*  Pope  or  Roman  Church  ;  but  as  far  as  they  are  able  to  pre- 
1  vent  the  6ame.'  * 

Such  are  the  obnoxious  clauses  of  the  Bishops*  consecra- 
tion oath,  in  the  midst  of  which  is  inserted  in  express  words, 
a  saving  clause  which  speaks  the  dignity  of  Catholic  Bishops, 
and  reconciles  their  allegiance  to  their  respective  Sovereigns 
with  the  canonical  obedience  due  to  their  head  pastor.  Salvo 
meo  ordine— Saving  my  order.  This  clause  does  away  every 
difficulty,  and  leaves  the  sceptre  in  the  Prince's  hands,  whilst 
it  leaves  the  censer  in  the  hands  of  the  Pontiff. 

The  oath  then  is  but  an  oath  of  canonical  obedience  due 
from  an  inferior  to  a  superior,  in  every  church  that  acknow- 
ledges a  Hierarchy.  But  an  oath  of  allegiance  is  due  to 
Temporal  Princes  alone ;  and  doubtless  the  Bishops  in  the 
Pope's  states  can  take  both  one  and  the  other,  for  in  those- 
states  they  have  no  other  Sovereign. 

When  then  they  bind  themselves  to  preserve,  defend,  en- 
large and  promote  the  rights,  honours,  privileges  and  autho- 
rity of  the  Roman  Church  and  its  Pontiff!  Catholic  Bi- 
shops mean  their  just  rights,  their  just  honours,  their  just  pri- 
vilege s,  and  their  just  authority,  which  do  not  nor  can  extend 
to  the  overthrow  of  states,  nor  to  the  usurpation  of  the  just 
and  lawful  rights,  honours,  privileges,  and  authority  of 
others. 

For  an  oath  is  not  a  tie  of  iniquity :  an  unjust  oath  taken 
to  God  himself  is  not  binding ;  and  an  oath  taken  to  one 
person  to  the  prejudice  of  another  is  null  and  void.  Hence 
the  religious  warrior  in  the  Scripture,  who  in  consequence  of 
his  oath  offered  up  his  daughter,  offered  to  God  a  sacrilegious 
sacrifice'.  Herod,  who  bound  himself  by  oath  to  give  the 
young  woman  who  danced  in  his  presence,  whatever  she  re- 
quired, was  guilty  of  murder  in  giving  her  the  Prophet's 
head  ;  and  the  Bishops  would  be  guilty  of  robbery,  treachery, 
and  profanation,  if  they  bound  themselves  by  their  consecra- 
tion to  dethrone  their  Sovereigns,  plunder  individuals,  and 
disturb  the  peace  and  order  of  civil  society,  to  defend,  en- 
large,  and  promote  the  royalties  of  Saint  Peter,  which  are 
merely  confined  to  a  Spiritual  Supremacy,  and  extend  to  no 
superiority  in  temporals.     Let  the  form  of  words  be  what  it 


302  MfSCELLANCOUS    TRACTS. 

may,  the  Bishops  never  take  that  oath  in  any  sense  injurious 
to  Sovereigns,  nor  to  civil  society.  The  Sovereign  Pontiff 
knows  they  do  not:  before  they  are  consecrated,  they  must 
swear  allegiance  to  their  respective  Sovereigns,  who 
are  as  jealous  of  their  privileges  as  any  Protestant  Mo- 
narchs. 

Oaths  and  laws  are  liable  to  interpretation;  and  one  gene- 
ral rule  prevails,  that  a  greater  stress  is  to  be  laid  on  the  sense 
than  on  the  words.  The  Bishops  are  not  only  the  most  com- 
petent judges  of  their  own  meanings,  but  moreover  secure 
their  own  dignity,  and  the  rights  of  their  respective  Sove- 
reigns, by  an  express  clause ;  Salvo  meo  online,  saving  my 
order,  as  a  Bishop  who  receives  his  jurisdiction  and  the  right 
of  determining  oh  doctrinal  matters  by  his  consecration,  and 
not  as  a  vassal  or  vicegerent  of  the  Pope.  Salvo  meo  ordine, 
Saving  my  order,  as  a  subject  bound  to  give  Caesar  his  due, 
and  to  pay  allegiance  to  the  reigning  powers  in  whose  states 
I  reside.  Salvo  meo  ordine,  Saving  my  order,  as  a  Minister 
of  the  Gospel,  who  is  to  preach  the  word,  and  who  takes 
his  oath  in  no  other  sense,  than  to  prosecute  by  arguments, 
and  impugn  by  persuasion,  reason  and  good  example,  those 
who  are  of  a  different  persuasion,  and  are  willing  to  be  con- 
vinced. Any  other  prosecution  or  persecution,  let  the  term 
be  what  it  may,  is  inconsistent  with  humanity,  much  more 
with  the  order  of  a  Christian  Prelate,  who  takes  not,  who 
cannot  take  the  oath  in  any  other  sense.  He  cannot  take  the 
sword  out  of  the  hands  of  the  civil  magistrates,  nor  injure  any 
description  of  men  who  are  under  the  protection  of  the 
state. 

Does  die  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  mean  to  hold  up  the  Ca- 
tholic Prelates  all  over  the  world,  as  a  set  of  perjurers  ?  Are 
the  Catholic  Bishops  in  Germany,  some  of  whom  are  Sove- 
reign Princes,  with  numbers  of  religious  descriptions  in  their 
states,  are  they  perjurers  ? 

This  cavil  at  the  Catholic  Bishops'  consecration  oath,  is  but 
a  dispute  about  words.  They  themselves  know  best  in  what 
sense  they  take  it ;  and  no  Catholic  Prelate  on  earth  takes  it 
in  the  sense  which  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  intimates  to 
the  public. 

When  the  Proctors  of  the  Court  of  Arches  are  sworn  into 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  303 

office,  they  bind  themselves  by  oath,  without  any  4  Salvo  or 
4  reserving  clause,  never  to  impugn,  diminish,  or  abridge  the 
4  rights,  liberties,  or  privileges  of*  the  church  of  Canterbury 
4  in  manner  whatever.'     Quoquo  Modo. 

JVunquam  ad  impugnationem,  diminutionem,  vel  Itesionem 
juris,  libcrtatis,  vel  privilegit  Cantuuriensis,  KccUsicb postulabo  ; 
nee  jus  libertatem,  vel  privilegeiimi  ejusdem  Ecclesice  quoQuo 
modo,  impiignabo,  &c.  (vide  statuto  de  arcabus,  Stratford.) 
— Yet  Oughton  in  his  ordo  judiciorum,  De  causis  testamen- 
trus  ;  Titulus,  224,  acknowledges  that  in  certain  cases  they 
can  decline  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Court  of  Prerogative, 
though  it  is  incumbent  on  them  in  such  cases  to  proceed  with, 
the  greatest  and  most  delicate  sincerity,  in  order  not  to  incur 
the  guilt  of  perjury,  '  JYotandum  tamen  est  quod  expedit  pro- 
4  curatori  negaati  jurisdicfionem  curiae,  prerogatives,  bona  et  op- 
4  timajide  alias  commit  tit  perjurium.'' 

It  is  well  known,  that  the  prerogative  courts  claim  juris- 
diction in  many  cases  in  which  the  courts  of  Common  law 
deny  them  jurisdiction  ;  yet  it  would  be  absurd  to  sav  that 
the  Proctors  of  those  prerogative  courts  are  enemies  to  the 
laws  of  the  realm,  or  perjure  themselves  in  consequence  of 
their  oath,  as  it  is  absurd  to  imagine  that  Catholic  Bishops 
are  by  their  profession  hostile  to  the  rights  and  privileges 
of  their  respective  Sovereigns,  or  perjure  themselves  by 
taking  an  oath  of  Canonical  obedience.  In  the  Prelate's 
oath,  there  is  an  express  saving  clause. — In  the  Proctor's 
oath  there  is  no  reserve,  but  such  as  justice  and  reason  im- 
ply: all  oaths  must  be  reasonable  and  just.  And  in  the  in- 
terpretation of  them,  the  intention  of  the  swearers  and  of 
those  to  whom  they  are  taken,  and  the  sense  in  which  both 
parties  understand  them,  are  to  be  strictly  attended  to. 

The  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  then  might  with  propriety 
have  spared  himself  the  trouble  of  alarming  the  public  with 
the  consecration  oath  of  Catholic  Prelates;  especially  as  his 
own  consecration  oath  is  not  favourable  if  literally  taken  for 
want  of  the  dignified  saving  clause  inserted  in  the  oath  of 
Catholic  Bishops. 


R  R 


304  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 


COPY  OF  THE  LORD  BISHOP  OF  CLOYNE'S  CONSECRATION 

OATH. 

(TAKEN  FROM  THE  ENGLISH  CARDINAL.) 

The  Archbishop's  Interrogatory  to  the  Bishop-Elect. 

4  Are  you  ready,  with  all  faithful  diligence,  to  banish  and 
4  drive  away  all  erroneous  and  all  strange  doctrines,  contrary 
4  to  God's  word,  and  both  privately  and  openly  to  call  upon 
4  and  encourage  others  to  the  same  ? 

Answer.     4  I  am  ready,  the  Lord  being  my  helper.' 

The  reader  may  judge  whether  the  above  oath  be  not 
tantamount  to  prosecute  and  impugn  Heretics  and  Schisma- 
tics. Nay,  they  go  further ;  for  the  Catholic  Prelate  uses 
the  dignified  language  of  Salvo  meo  online,  and  does  not 
bind  himself  to  call  upon  and  encourage  others  privately 
and  openly  to  the  same.  What  an  alarming  comment  would 
not  malevolent  writers  make  on  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne's 
consecration  oath  in  those  Protestant  and  Catholic  States, 
where  free  toleration  is  granted,  if  they  were  as  active  in  ex- 
cluding the  members  of  the  church  of  England  from  na- 
tional confidence,  as  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  has  been  in 
excluding  Irish  Dissenters  and  Catholics;  or  Counsellor 
Dominick  Trant,  who  calls  them  internal  confederated  enemies 
against  the  conMitution. 

^  How  these  words  privately  encouraging  others,  would  be 
tortured  to  the  prejudice  of  the  two  Bishops,  who  were  con- 
secrated the  other  day  in  Lambeth  Palace,  in  order  to  in- 
struct their  flocks  in  America,  where  unfettered  conscience 
enjoys  that  innate  freedom  of  which  tests  and  penalties  have 
deprived  unhappy  persecuted  mortals  ! 

The  affinity  of  one  oath  with  the  other  was  so  glaring, 
that  it  drew  equal  vengeance  on  the  Bishops  of  the  church 
of  England,  as  well  as  on  the  Catholics,  during  those  un- 
happy scenes  which  distracted  England  in  the  reign  of 
Charles  the  First.    Papists  and  Malignants  were  equally  ob- 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  305 

noxious  to  people  who  perceived  such  a  thin  partition  be- 
tween both,  and  similarity  of  ceremonies,  mitres,  confirma- 
tion, consecrations  and  oaths,  scarce  discernible. 

What  is  the  meaning  of  the  words,  to  '  banish  and  drive 
'  away  all  erroneous  and  strange  doctrines,  and  encourage 
'  others  privately  and  openly  to  the  same  ?'  The  Lord  Bi- 
shop of  Cloyne,  who  must  believe  that  Bishops  are  jure 
divino,  must  believe  the  doctrine  of  the  Dissenters  strange  V 
and  erroneous.  The  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  who  believes 
that  two  sacraments  are  necessary  to  salvation,  must  believe 
the  doctrine  of  the  Quakers  strange  and  erroneous.  The 
Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  who  believes  the  Catholics  to  be 
Idolaters,  violators  of  faith  with  Heretics,  must  believe  their 
doctrine  enormously  and  horridly  strange  and  erroneous.  What 
is  then  the  consequence  ?  That  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne 
is  bound  to  banish  and  drive  away  the  Dissenters,  Catholics, 
Quakers:  in  a  word,  all  Adam's  children  who  do  not  pro- 
fess his  creed.  His  pamphlet  shews  it :  his  Lordship  hints 
to  a  dispensing  power  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  I  most  ear- 
nestly recommend  a  dispensation  with  any  oath,  which  de- 
prives mortals  of  the  rights  to  which  they  are  entitled  by 
nature,  and  which  they  have  not  forfeited  by  their  personal 
crimes.  He  should  then  have  left  the  consecration  oath  of 
Catholic  Prelates,  who  in  every  age,  have  been  an  ornament 
to  human  nature  by  their  philanthropy,  their  learning,  and 
the  purity  of  their  lives;  he  should  have  left  it  where  he 
found  it,  in  an  old  Pontifical,  on  the  shelf  of  a  College  Li- 
brary, and  foreseen  that  his  own  oath  would  be  sought  for 
in  his  ordinal,  when  he  would  examine  into  the  oaths  of 
others ;  if  both  are  to  be  taken  in  the  literal  sense,  they 
are  very  well  matched,  and  should  discover  in  each  other's 
face  a  striking  similiarity  of  features,  such  as  ought  to  be 
between  an  elder  and  younger  sister,  to  use  the  words  of 
the  ingenious  Mr.  Barber. 

This  affinity,  however,  has  been  very  troublesome  to  the 
unhappy  Catholics  of  England  and  Ireland,  ever  since  the 
reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  to  this  very  day.  In  Holland  and 
Switzerland,  Protestants  and  Catholics  live  together  in  the 
greatest  harmony  :  in  some  parts  of  Germany,  Calvinists, 
Lutherans,  and  Catholics,  say  their  prayers  in  the  same 


306  MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS. 

church,  each  in  their  turn.     And  doubtless  a  passenger  or* 
earth  may  succeed  another  in  a  house  of  worship,  to  offer  up 
a  few  prayers,  as  one  traveller  succeeds  another  at  an  Inn, 
and  sits  down  at  the  same  table  on  which  another  traveller 
had  taken   his   repast  an  hour  before.     In  Upper  Alsatia, 
Protestants  and  Catholics  study  in  the  same  University ;  and 
in  Paris,  the  youth  of  all  nations  and  religions  may  study 
the  sciences,  and  attend    what  lectures   they  think  fit,   in 
the  Universities  and  other   Seminaries  of  learning,   where 
quick  parts    and   a  comprehensive   genius  are  attended  to. 
But  where  students'  religion  is  no  matter  of  concern  to  a 
professor,  who  explain  to  his  hearers  either  the  Justinian 
code,  or  Hippocrates's    aphorisms,  or  Quintilian's   institu- 
tions, what  reason  to  assign  for  disputes  about  religion  in 
this  kingdom,  I  am  at  a  loss  ?  '  Is  the  Pope  more  formidable 
«  here  than  in  Holland,  Switzerland,  and  other  places  more 
6  contiguous  to  Italy?'    Is  it  on   account  of  the   difference 
of  belief?     The  Catholic  creed  is  the  same  all  over  the 
world :  an  Irish  peasant  believes  neither  more  or  less   than 
a  Fenelon  or  Bissuet.     Is  it  on  account  of  the  Pope's  all- 
dispensing   power  ?    Is    his    Omnipotence   more   prevalent 
here  than   ejsewhere  ?    Because    the  Catholic  Clergy  of 
Ireland  dq  not  choose  to  change  their  creed,  does  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  Cloyne  imagine  they  are  so  ignorant  as  to  con- 
found a  Legate's  letter,  or  a  Pope's  decree  with  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Catholic  Church  ?    History  informs  them  that 
a  Pope  was  excommunicated  after  his  death,  on  a  suspicion 
of  having  favoured  the  doctrine  of  theMonothelites;  that  Pope 
John  the   Twenty-second,  was  obliged   to  retract  the  doc- 
trine which  he  preached  at  Avignon,  where  he  asserted  that 
the  souls  of  the  Saints  were  not  to  enjoy  the  beatific  vision, 
or  the  clear  sight  of  God  before  the  last  judgment;  and 
that  Popes  were   deposed   by  a  Council,  to  put  an  end  to 
disorder  and  schism :  the  Pope's  infallibility  then  can  be  no 
part  of  their  creed :  they  acknowledge  him  as  the  head  pas- 
tor of  their  religion :  but  the  pasturage  on  which  he  is  to 
feed  the  flock,  is  not  at  his  choice.    The  boundaries  are  pre- 
scribed, and  under  the  controul  of  unalterable  faith,  and  the 
Universal  Canons  of  the  church,  he  would  not  dare  to  re- 
move the  land-marks  :  if  he  attempted  to  publish  the  Charter 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  307 

School  Catechism,  which  (I  am  informed)  was  composed  by, 
or  compiled  under  the  direction  of  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne, 
the   Catholic  body  would  depose  him,  and  elect  another  in 
his  room.     Is  it  from  dread  of  the  Pope's  deposing  power, 
and  the  implicit  obedience  due  to  his  mandates  ?     Who  can 
name  a  prince  deposed  by  the  Pope,  in  virtue  of  his  spiritual 
authority  ?     Can  the  prince   be  named  who  parted  tamelv 
with  his  crown,  and  opened  his  gates  when  St.  Peter  sounded 
the  trumpet  and  ordered  him  to  surrender  ?     If  in  a  memo- 
rable dispute  between  a  Pope  and  an  Emperor,  about  investi- 
tutes,  the  latter  was  worsted,  it  was  a  contest  in  which  com- 
pacts   and  agreements  were  pleaded  on  both  sides,  and  sup- 
ported by  powerful  parties  ;  but  in  this  very  contest  have  not 
Catholic  subjects  fought  against  the  Pope  in  defence  of  their 
Sovereign?     Have  not  the  Catholic  Barons  and  Clergy  of 
England,  with  Archbishop  Langton  at  their  head,  obtained 
the  great  charter  of  English  liberty,  in  defiance  of  the  threats, 
menaces,  and  excommunications  of  Pope  Innocent  the  Third  ? 
Is  it  for  any  degeneracy  peculiar  to  the  Roman  Catholic  re- 
ligion, which  makes  contemptible  cowards  of  its  votaries? 
The   gallant  Richard  Cceur  de  lion,   was  the  admiration  of 
Europe  and  Asia ;  where  James  the  First,  whom  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  Cloyne  admires  for  his  wise  saying  no  Bishop,  no 
King,  used  to  shut  his  eyes  whenever  he  drew  the  sword  to 
perform  the  ceremony  of  dubbing  a  Knight :  is  it  for  want  of 
valour  and  heroism  ?     The  heroes  of  Agincourt  and  Cressi, 
who  said  their  beads  on  the  evening  of  those  memorable  bat- 
tles, which  will  immortalize  them  in  the  annals  of  the  world, 
were  as  brave  as  Marlborough,   who  was  obliged  to  make  a 
declaration  of  war  against  the  Virgin  Mary,  before  he  could 
draw  his  sword  in  Flanders.     Is  it  on  account  of  the  alloy  of 
slavery,  peculiarly  blended  with  their  profession  ? 

When  Attila  flew  over  Italy  like  a  vulture,  a  few  Catho- 
lics, unable  to  resist  by  land,  took  shelter  in  the  sea ;  and  like 
the  Halcyon  that  builds  his  nest  on  the  calm  surface  of  the 
water,  in  that  very  element  they  laid  the  foundation  of  a  Re- 
public, equally  famous  for  preserving  its  liberties  against  the 
Popes  of  Rome,  and  the  Turkish  Emperors  of  Constanti- 
nople. Without  any  breach  of  faith,  or  rupture  of  Catholic 
communion,  the  keys  of  Saint  Peter  painted  on  the  Pontiff's 


308  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

Tiara,  and  the  crescent  raised  on  the  top  of  the  Saracen's 
turban,  are  equally  obnoxious  to  Catholic  republicans,  if 
either  nodded  at  any  attempt  against  their  liberties.  Where 
then  can  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  find  the  truth  of  his  as- 
sertion, that  despotic  States  have  found  in  the  Papal  autho- 
rity a  congenial  system  of  arbitrary  dominion  ?  Has  not  the 
Temple  of  Liberty  (from  whose  very  corners  he  endeavours 
to  exclude  the  natives  of  these  realms,)  been  erected  by  Ca- 
tholic hands,  long  before  Langton  could  foresee  that  a  Bishop 
would  misrepresent  his  creed  ?  Have  not  Catholic  States  op- 
posed this  Papal  authority  so  congenial,  according  to  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  Cloyne,  with  the  system  of  arbitrary  dominion. 
Are  not  Protestant  Monarchs  as  despotic  as  Catholic  Kings  ? 
Does  not  the  small  Republic  of  Ragusa  change  its  governor 
every  month,  lest  a  longer  continuance  in  office  would  ena- 
ble him  to  become  the  petty  sovereign  of  a  small  territory  ? 
Where  is  this  congeniality  of  Papal  authority  with  arbitrary 
dominion,  so  interwoven  with  the  frame  of  a  Catholic  creed 
as  to  make  them  inseparable  ?  Or  can  a  Bishop  be  so  much 
a  stranger  to  human  nature,  as  to  be  ignorant  of  one  of  its 
most  undeniable  principles  ?  One  man  resembles  another, 
and  every  one  chooses  to  be  free. 


SECTION  THE  FOURTH. 

Containing  Cursory  Remarks  on  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne 's 

Pamphlet, 

Had  I  not  seen  the  Reverend  Mr,  Barber's  pamphlet, 
and  got  information  that  strictures  on  the  Lord  Bishop  of 
Cloyne's  publication  are  sent  to  the  press,  by  a  gentleman  of 
more  distinguished  abilities  than  I  can  pretend  to,  I  would 
examine  his  Lordship's  possessions  in  every  section  of  his 
work.  Others  have  exempted  me  from  the  task.  And  my 
principal  design  was  to  enter  into  a  full  vindication  of  the 
Catholic  body,  and  of  myself,  whom  his  Lordship's  work  is 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  309 

calculated  to  render  peculiarly  obnoxious  to  the  reigning 
powers. 

After  having  committed  himself  with  the  Dissenters  and 
Catholics,  he  makes  a  peculiar  attack  on  the  regular  clergy 
by  an  innuendo,  that  agitating  friars  and  Romish  missionaries 
may  be  sent  here  to  sow  sedition.  I  challenged  his  Lordship  in 
the  public  papers,  and  in  the  course  of  my  defence,  to  pro- 
duce one  :  he  cannot :  he  hints  that  Theophilus  may  have 
some  information  of  such.  Let  Theophilus  appear,  and  he 
shall  be  branded  as  a  lying  witness.  I  am  extremely  sorry 
that  his  Lordship  should  mention  such  a  slanderer  in  his 
pamphlet;  as  for  my  part,  my  ian.dlord,  Mr.  Augustus  War- 
ren, a  Member  of  Parliament,  and  a  gentleman,  who,  at  the 
very  beginning  of  the  disorders,  took  an  active  and  honour- 
able part  in  suppressing  them,  is  now  in  town;  he  would  not 
honour  me  with  his  friendship,  nor  give  me  free  access  to  his 
house  and  library,  whenever  I  chose  to  retire  from  the  bustle 
of  cities,  if  he  discovered  in  me  a  seditious  tenant.  The 
regular  clergy  of  this  kingdom  are  a  part  of  the  Catholie 
body,  whom  they  instruct  and  edify  under  the  directions  of 
the  Catholic  Prelates. 

Does  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  intend  to  raise  a  perse- 
cution against  them,  and  thus,  through  their  sides,  to  wound 
the  Catholics  at  large,  with  whom  they  are  so  closely  con- 
nected by  the  ties  of  blood,  and  the  mutual  interchange  of 
good  offices  ?  They  have  not  those  fine  gardens  and  rich 
monasteries  which  could  excite  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne's 
jealousy;  and  which  the  Emperor  of  Germany  would  sell  to 
increase  his  treasury,  as  he  has  curtailed  the  revenues  of 
such  Bishops  as  are  not  foreign  princes.  The  stricter  their 
vow,  the  less  cumbersome  they  are  to  society,  as  they  are  lite- 
rally content  with  what  Saint  Paul  was  satisfied,  food  and  rai- 
ment; many  of  them  have  left  good  fortunes  to  their  younger 
brothers:  all  have  renounced  their  share  of  the  inheritance; 
and  such  of  them  as  had  but  a  small  dividend  to  share, 
made  a  generous  sacrifice,  when  they  renounced  all  earthly 
prospects.  Should  the  contempt  of  the  vanities  of  the 
world,  and  a  disinterested  heart,  be  deemed  objects  of  cen- 
sure in  ecclesiastics,  they  should  not  be  held  in  such  a  view 
by  a  Bishop,  who  finds  them  recommended  in  the   Scrip- 


310  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

tures.  Neither  will  they  ever  be  deemed  such  by  the  laity, 
who  will  esteem  the  clergy  the  more  in  proportion  as  they 
practise  what  they  preach.  1  write  here  of  the  regular 
clergy  of  Ireland,  who  run  the  same  career  with  the  rest  of 
the  Catholic  clergy  of  the  kingdom,  and  whose  common 
ancestors  fell  prostrate  in  the  promiscuous  ruin,  occasioned 
by  confiscations  and  forfeitures.  If  a  revival  of  claims,  so 
often  mentioned  in  the  senate,  and  bandied  about  in  flying 
pamphlets,  can  tend  to  render  them  obnoxious,  there  is  no 
doubt,  but  that  they  should  be  objects  of  jealousy  with  the 
rest  of  the  Catholics,  should  those  claims  be  ever  asserted. 
For  the  Catholic  clergy,  both  secular  and  regular,  are  de- 
scended from  the  same  stock  with  the  Catholic  laity,  and 
from  ancestors  who  in  their  days  were  neither  hewers  of 
wood  nor  drawers  of  water.  But  those  claims  1  have  done 
away  by  scripture,  canon  and  civil  law,  and  reason,  in  my 
address  to  the  common  people,  when  the  combined  fleets 
were  on  our  coasts,  and  a  revival  most  likely  to  ensue.  For, 
at  that  time,  the  unprotected  Catholic  had  nothing  to  lose, 
and  on  each  Catholic  clergyman's  head  hung  the  naked 
sword  of  proscription.  1  had  some  time  before  confirmed 
the  throne  in  his  Majesty's  family,  against  the  claims  of  Stu- 
arts, Bourbons,  and  the  House  of  Sardinia.  This  I  have 
done  in  my  Loyalty  asserted,  as  far  as  a  writer  possessed  of 
abilities,  which  have  nothing  to  recommend  them  but  the 
sincerity  of  the  author,  could  confirm  the  throne  of  a  prince, 
whose  Catholic  subjects  are  compared  to  a  pack  of  hounds, 
impatient  to  run  down  the  Royal  Game. 

The  only  reward  I  expect  for  my  labour,  is  not  to  be  in- 
sulted by  any  oblique  insinuation,  that  I  am  sent  here  to  sow 
sedition.  The  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  softens  the  innuendo 
in  these  words,  /  do  not  say  that  Mr.  O'Leary  is  sent  here  to 
sow  sedition  ;  but,  &c.  If  he  did  not  say  it,  why  mention  my 
name  as  a  dessert,  after  having  regaled  his  reader  with  so 
many  courses  ?  Sent  here  !  I  imagined  that  St.  Paul  recom- 
mends hospitality  to  Bishops,  and  that  a  Prelate  would  be 
more  generous  than  to  envy  an  Irishman  the  liberty  of  breath- 
ing his  native  air.  If  Swift  were  alive,he  would  not  be  very 
thankful  to  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne ;  but  Swift  would  be 
at  liberty  to  indulge  his  thoughts  in  their  full  latitude ;  I 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  311 

must  be  cautious,  under  the  heaviest  provocation.  The  Lord 
knows  that  it  is  hard  for  me  !  I  was  not  sent  here  !  I  came 
here,  after  having  been  forced  in  my  early  days  into  foreign 
countries,  for  a  small  portion  of  education,  which  was  re- 
fused me  in  the  land  of  my  fathers,  because  I  would  not 
couple  Tully's  Orations  with  a  Charter- School  Catechism. 

I  was  not  sent  here  to  sow  sedition  :  I  returned  here,  not 
as  a  fellon  from  transportation,  but  as  an  honourable  exile, 
who  returns  to  his  native  land,  after  having  preferred  a  vo- 
luntary banishment,  to  ignorance  and  the  abjuration  of  the 
creed  of  his  fathers. 

I  appeal  to  Richard  Longfield,  Esq.   Member  of  Parlia- 
ment, whether,  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  disturbances  in 
the  diocese  of  Cloyne,  I  have  not  given  the  sincerest  proof 
of  the  most  unfeigned  determination  to  co-operate  in  the 
restortion   of  peace  and  tranquillity.     That  gentleman  soon 
suppressed  the  tumults  in  his  own   district:   because  the 
humanity   of  the   landlord   gave   an   additional   weight   of 
respect  and   love  to  the   authority    of  the   magistrate.     1 
say  it  not  from   flattery,    to  which  I  am  an  utter  stranger : 
had  all   the   gentlemen   of  consequence  in   the  county  of 
Cork,  exerted  themselves   as  Mr.    Richard  Longfield  and 
Mr.  Augustus   Warren  have  done;    had  they,     in  imita- 
tion of  the  above-mentioned  gentlemen,  rendered  their  au- 
thority as  amiable   from   benevolence  to  their   tenants,    as 
it  was  formidable  from   the  powers  invested  in  them  by 
the   laws,    the   disturbances  would  not  have   outlived   the 
space   of  six  weeks.      Wherever    the   landlords  were  ac- 
tive   and    generous,    and    advised    the   people,    either    no 
disorders  appeared,  or  were  soon  suppressed ;  and  had  the 
Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  been  as  active  in  visiting  his  dio- 
cese, and  publishing  pastoral  letters,  as  he  was  intent  upon 
collecting  materials  for  a  pamphlet,  to  surprise  the  public  on 
the  eve  of  the  meeting  of  Parliament,   he  would  have  contri- 
buted to  the  prevention  or  suppression  of  the  tumults  in  con- 
currence with  Mr.  O'Leary. 

But  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  was  secure  in  the  protection 
of  the  state.  The  peace  of  society  was  left  to  the  other 
guardians  :  the  people  were  wretched,  miserable,  and  mad  : 

s  s 


;i!2  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

several  gentlemen  were  not  much  concerned  for  the  injuries 
offered  to  the  clergy  of  either  religion  ;  policy,  which  often 
expects  benefits  from  popular  commotions  so  destructive  to 
the  simple,  might  have  induced  others  to  remain  silent  and 
inactive  in  the  prospect  of  providing  for  their  adherents, 
under  the  extension  of  a  general  police  bill ;  a  bill  which 
was  then  expected  in  consequence  of  popular  tumults, 
which  adepts  in  political  wisdom,  were  more  active  in 
magnifying  than  preventing.  It  was  reported  in  the  eity 
of  Cork,  that  a  certain  Reverend  Gentleman  in  the  diocese 
of  Cloyne*  used  to  go  in  the  night-time  with  armed  men  to 
sound  a  horn  near  a  cluster  of  cabins,  in  order  to  make 
prisoners  of  such  as  would  appear  to  gratify  their  curiosity  ; 
an  expedient  well  becoming  a  minister  of  the  Gospel !  Bu| 
with  some  persons  every  expedient  is  justifiable,  when 
Popish  plots  are  to  be  contrived  to  give  it  a  sanction : 
but  every  idea  of  such  plots  is  done  away,  by  the  very  re- 
solves of  the  Gentlemen  and  Freeholders  of  the  county  of 
Cork  :  resolves  wherein  they  censure  the  inactivity  and  in- 
exertions  of  many  magistrates  and  gentlemen  of  property,  on 
the  breaking  out  of  the  disturbances,  and  on  the  continuance 
of  them. f 

It  would  have  been  no  difficult  matter  to  have  smothered 
them  in  their  birth,  as  I  remarked  in  my  narrative.  Firm- 
ness and  humanity  would  have  prevented  the  disorder.  I 
recommended  it  in  the  beginning.  For  were  I  a  man  in 
power,  I  never  would  take  for  my  guides,  Rehoboam  coun- 
sellors ;  My  father  whipped  you  with  rods,  I  will  whip  you 
with  scorpions.  I  recommended  it  in  presence  of  the  present 
Earl  of  Carhampton,  then  Lord  Lutterell.  It  was  happy  for 
the  ill-fated  Catholics  that  such  a  nobleman  of  his  character, 
for  honour  and  impartiality,  was  on  the  distracted  spot.  It 
was  happy  for  them  that  the  Representatives  in  Parliament  for 
the  County  and  City,  and  other  members  who  reside  in  the 
South  of  Ireland,  are  acquainted  with  local  circumstances, 
and  well  known  for  honour,  justice  and  humanity.     Other- 


*  Perhapsthe  Author  of  the  Letter  found  on  the  road  from  Cork  to  Clonaghkilty,  aiad- 
addressed  to  Doctor  O'Leary,  by  William  O'Driscoll. 

t  County  of  Cork  meeting,  7th  December;,  1786. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  313 

wise  Government  would  have  been  imposed  on,  and  the 
Catholics  of  Ireland  would  be  in  a  worse  state  in  the  year 
eighty-seven,  than  they  had  been  in  the  year  forty-five. 

The  county  of  Cork  meeting  agreed  to  a  resolution, 
which  may  serve  as  a  rule  well  adapted  to  the  times  of 
commotions  arising  from  distress.  Resolved,  that  as  we  are 
determined  to  punish  all  violators  of  the  public  peace,  so  we 
are  equally  desirous  to  aid  in  redressing  any  persons  who 
shall  appear  to  us  to  be  really  aggrieved.  Both  wisdom 
and  humanity  penned  that  resolution.  Had  it  been  entered 
into,  and  carried  into  execution  in  the  month  of  September 
or  October  eighty-five,  instead  of  the  seventh  of  December, 
in  the  year  eighty-six,  the  county  would  have  been  quieted 
a  long  time  before.  Do  not  strike  until  you  listen,  was  a 
maxim  with  an  Athenian  General.  It  is  better  to  listen  in 
time,  than  to  strike  when  the  mischief  is  done  :  it  was  my 
maxim  from  the  beginning.  The  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne 
would  have  acted  in  a  manner  more  consistent  with  his 
character,  in  enforcing  that  maxim  than  in  publishing  a 
pamphlet,  every  page  of  which  can  be  controverted  by  the 
Dissenters  and  Catholics  of  Ireland.  Nay,  his  favourite 
plan  about  tithes  and  commutations  is  found  defective  by  the 
most  sensible  writers  of  his  own  communion.  From  the 
beginning  to  the  last  line  of  his  pamphlet,  he  cannot  sup- 
port an  argument  without  forcing  the  Catholics  into  his 
subjects.     In  the   forty-seventh  page,   he  describes  the  re- 


ig 
1  an  exemption  from  the  public  taxes,  and  the  civil  jurisdic- 

*  tion  of  their  own  country;  and  avowing  a  subjection  to  a 

*  foreign  pft\ver,  were  and  are  a  natural  object  of  jealousy 
1  and  apprehension.'  Mr.  Standish,  the  Hearth-money  col- 
lector in  Cork,  can  refute  the  assertion  ;  if  I  had  his  receipts 
in  Dublin,  I  would  place  them  in  my  appendix,  with  those 
of  my  landlord's  and  my  tailor's  bill ;  for  the  money  1  get 
circulates  amongst  the  public. 


314  MISCELLANEOUS     TRACTS. 

The  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  in  a  catechism,  ^printed 
under  his  direction,  (as  1  am  told,)  impresses  the  tender 
and  uncautious  minds  of  foundlings  with  a  notion  that  viola- 
tion of  faith  with  and  extirpation  of  heretics,  indulgences  for 
committing  sins  in  the  ensuing  course  of  a  man's  life,  and 
license  for  guilt,  are  articles  of  the  Catholic  faith.  The 
compiler  of  such  a  catechism  may  misrepresent  the  regular 
clergy  with  every  freedom.  He  must  then  certainly  mean 
the  regular  clergy  in  foreign  countries,  of  whose  state  he 
is  as  incompetent  a  judge  as  I  am  of  the  regulations  of 
Westminster  School,  which  I  have  never  seen. 

The  regular  clergy  have  no  interest  distinct  from  the  ge- 
neral weal.  They  are  as  much  interested  in  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  state,  from  which  they  have  got  their  lands  and 
monasteries,  as  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  is  interested  in 
the  preservation  of  Ireland,  where  he  has  very  good  livings. 
He  would  have,  1  suppose,  the  regular  clergy  of  the  church 
of  Rome  to  shoulder  a  firelock,  sound  horns,  and  shoot 
Whiteboys.  In  every  age  since  their  institution,  they  have 
been  engaged  in  a  more  glorious  warfare,  civilizing  barbar- 
ous nations,  diffusing  the  light  of  the  gospel  into  remote  re- 
gions, whither  the  Alexanders  and  Caesars  had  never  car- 
ried their  arms,  contributing  extensively  to  the  culture  of 
the  sciences,  and  swelling  the  deep  and  majestic  rivers  of 
European  literature,  with  their  tribute  of  the  knowledge  of 
the  histories,  laws,  customs  and  manners  of  the  most  remote 
and  distant  nations.  I  do  not  talk  here  of  the  Jesuits  alone, 
who  in  the  very  centre  of  barbarism,  amongst  cannibals, 
feeding  on  each  other's  flesh,  realize  the  sublime  ideas  of  a 
Plato,  a  Sir  Thomas  More,  or  a  Fenelon.  Those  great 
men  only  dreamt  of  those  political  institutions  under  which 

*  In  that  Catechism  there  is  not  one  word  of  the  commandments  of  God,  nor  ex- 
planation of  any  moral  duty.  The  honour  of  the  nation  cries  aloud  to.  the  right 
honourable  and  honourable  the  Trustees  of  the  Protestant  Schools,  to  order  some  un- 
prejudiced person  to  compose  another  Catechism  :  for  besides  the  horrid  and  un- 
christian doctrines  falsely  imputed  to  the  Catholics,  in  that  Christian  doctrine  there 
are  two  historical  untruths.— First,  that  a  hundred  thousand  Protestants  were  massacred 
in  Ireland. —  Secondly,  that  Protestants  are  not  tolerated  in  Cathojic  States.  If  thqt 
Catechism  were  seen  in  foreign  countries,  what  an  opinion  would  be  formed  of  our 
enrly  education  ! 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  315 

man  could  live  happy,  without  the  canker  of  envy  or  the 
stings  of  poverty.  A  branch  of  the  regular  clergy  of  the 
church  of  Rome  raised  the  fabric,  which  procured  them 
the  compliments  of  Montesquieu,  and  the  admiration  of  the 
world.  Civilized  and  christian  Paraguay,  from  a  nation  of 
Cannibals,  became  the  only  spot  on  earth  where  vice  and 
want  were  equally  unknown. 

To  this  very  day  the  Catholic  religion  is  maintained  in 
Turkey  land,  Abyssinia,  and  the  remotest  Pegtons,  by  the 
labours  of  men  whom  their  vows  and  a  generous  contempt 
of  the  pleasures  of  this  world  naturalize  to  every  nation  and 
climate.  Their  method  is  quite  different  from  that  pre- 
scribed by  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cioyne  for  the  propagation 
of  the  Gospel ;  a  method  which  exposes  religion  to  the  deri- 
sion of  infidels,  and  renders  the  proposer  vulnerable  to 
every  arrow  which  can  be  taken  from  the  quivers  of  the 
learned.  His  Lordship  informs  us  gravely  that  his  religion 
will  extend  in  proportion  to  agriculture.  Bravo  !  this  is  lite- 
rally planting  the  Gospel,  and  making  it  the  religion  of  the 
land,  in  every  sense  of  the  word  :  Saint  Paul  says  that  god- 
liness is  great  gain.  The  Lord  Bishop  writes  as  if  gain  were 
great,  godliness:  he  sanctifies  the  soil  before  he  sanctifies 
the  soul;  pity  that  crows  and  pigeons  have  not  the  use  of 
speech  as  they  had  in  iEsop's  time  !  His  clergy  would  have 
a  great  number  of  fellow-labourers  in  the  Lord's  vineyard. 
The  feathered  tribe  would  cry  out  to  the  peasant,  my  good 
man,  sow  the  corn,  and  I  will  be  with  you  next  year  to  reclaim 
you  from  the  errors  of  Popery. 

The  next  method  his  Lordship  proposes  is  an  effort  on 
the  part  of  Government  to  bring  the  Irish  language  into  dis- 
use, in  order  to  save  his  clergy  the  trouble  of  learning  it. 
This  method  is  an  insult  to  the  natives,  and  cannot  come 
w.'th  any  propriety  from  a  prelate,  who  (if  I  be  well  in- 
formed) is  indebted  for  his  promotion  to  the  descendant  of 
Irish  princes,  in  whose  hospitable  halls  the  tuneful  lyre  was 
strung  up  to  Irish  melody,  so  varied  and  harmonious  that 
the  lying  Giraldus  Cambrensis  was  forced  to  speak  of  it  with 
rapture  and  ecstasy.  But  now,  at  the  awful  summons  of  an 
E.iglish  prelate,  the  Irish  harp  must  be  suspended  on  the 
branch  of  some  weeping  willow,  as   the  Israelites  hung  up 


316  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

their  musical  instruments  on  the  mulberry-trees  that  grew 
on  the  banks  of  the  rivers  of  Babylon.  How  can  we 
sing  (used  they  to  say)  the  canticles  of  the  Lord  in  a 
strange  land?  And  the  Irishman  can  say,  How  can  I 
speak  the  language  of  my  fathers  in  the  land  of  my 
nativity  ?  His  language  must  be  abolished  at  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  Right  Reverend  Doctor  Woodward  ;  this 
language,  the  study  of  which  the  learned  Leibnitz  and 
Lhuid  so  warmly  recommended  to  the  curious  inquirers  into 
the  monuments  of  antiquity;  this  language,  studied  by  a 
learned  stranger,*  who  has  reconciled  Mars  with  Minerva, 
in  uniting  the  sword  with  the  pen,  military  skill  with  literary 
powers,  and  by  his  learned  labours  has  rescued  from  obscu- 
rity the  history  of  a  misrepresented  nation,  formerly  the 
Athens  of  western  Europe  :  thus  Caesar  studied  astronomy 
in  the  camp,  whilst  the  priests  of  Apollo  snored  in  the  tem- 
ple. A  military  gentleman  studies  the  Irish  language,  to 
increase  the  store  of  the  literary  public.  The  prelate, 
whose  function  it  is  to  sanctify  the  souls  of  the  natives,  re- 
commends the  growth  of  their  grain  for  the  food  of  the  cler- 
gyman's  body,  and  the  abolition  of  their  language  for  the 
good  of  their  souls. 

Thus  the  Irish  peasant  must  work  double  tides  to  sail  for 
heaven.  He  must  grow  corn  for  an  English  pastor's  body, 
and  study  this  English  parson's  language  for  the  good  of  his 
own  soul,  lest  a  pair  of  brogues  would  be  too  uncourtly  a 
dress  to  appear  in  the  antichamber  of  heaven.  Badinage 
apart.  Such  a  recommendation  for  the  abolition  of  lan- 
guages should  rather  come  from  a  leader  of  Goths  and 
Vandals,  whose  glory  it  was  to  destroy  monuments  of  lite- 
rature, than  from  the  Bishop  of  a  large  diocese,  in  a  philoso- 
phical age,  when  curiosity  is  on  the  wing,  and  the  mind 
active  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge.  The  Lord  Bishop's 
method  then  of  propagating  his  gospel  is  the  most 
extraordinary  that  1  ever  read  of;  to  sow  corn  and  ex- 
tend agriculture  for  the  conveniency  of  the  clergyman, 
and  to  oblige  the  peasant,  after  the  toils  of  the  day, 
to  learn  the  clergyman's  language,  in  order  to  know 
the    way    to    heaven,  which    the    clergyman  would  not 

*  Colonel  Vallancey. 


MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS.  317 

take  the  pains  of  telling  him  in  Irish.  A  true  repetition  of 
Erasmus's  echo,  Quid  est  sact.dotiam  ?     Echo.     Otinm. 

I  have  read  of  a  Saracen  emperor,  who,  from  hatred  to  lite- 
rature, burnt  the  AkxanJrian  library  ;  but  I  never  read  of  a 
Christian  prelate  Intent  upon  the  conversion  of  people  by 
whom  he  was  fed,  who,  instead  of  learning  their  language, 
recommended  its  disuse,  unHi  I  read  the  pamphlet  oi  the. 
Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne.  The  present  Bishop  of  Llandaff 
could  not  speak  a  word  of  Welch  when  he  came  to  Wales. 
Instead  of  recommending  to  the  English  government  to  abo- 
lish the  Welch  language,  he  made  the  knowledge  of  it  his  pe- 
culiar study.  But  it  is  the  unhappy  and  singular  fate  of  the 
Catholics  of  Ireland  to  see  their  names  held  up  as  barbarous, 
their  creed  misrepresented,  and  the  language  of  their  ancestors 
threatened  with  entire  disuse,  for  the  gratification  of  a  foreign 
prelate,  who  proposes,  as  the  means  of  their  sanctification, 
commodious  houses  and  cultivated  spots  for  the  ease  and  con- 
venience of  persons  whom  his  Lordship  dispenses  with  the 
trouble  of  even  learning  the  language  of  the  people  who  sup- 
port them. 

This  was  not  the  manner  in  which  the  regular  clergy  of 
the  church  of  Rome  planted  religion  in  all  the  nations  on 
esrth  where  they  preached  the  gospel.  Neither  was  it  the 
DfK  hod  which  those  who  separated  from  the  church  of  Eng- 
lar  r!',  adopted  to  establish  their  own  doctrine,  and  formed 
.  separate  communions.  They  learned  the  language  of  the 
people,  and  brought  them  over  to  their  way  of  thinking,  be- 
fore they  insisted  upon  commodious  houses  and  glebe 
lands.  Hence  they  became  ministers  of  the  world  ;  whereas, 
according  to  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne's  plan,  making  re- 
ligion and  agriculture  keep  pace  with  each  other,  he  gives 
his  readers  to  understand  that  the  minister  of  religion  is 
more  the  minister  of  the  soil  than  of  the  soul:  and  that 
the  old  adage,  which  is  become  so  current  to  the  dis- 
grace of  the  priesthood,  is  verified,  no  penny  no  pater- 
noster. 

But  leaving  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne's  method  of  pro- 
pagating his  doctrine  by  tithes,  glebe-houses,  and  the  anni- 
hilation of  languages,  exposed  to  the  shafts  of  christian  cri- 
ticism ;  let  us  return  to  his  charge  against  the  regular 
clergy. 


318  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

His  Lordship  says,  that  they  claim  an  exemption  from 
public  taxes,  and  from  the  civil  jurisdiction  of  their  own 
country,  and  avow  a  subjection  to  a  foreign  power.* 

I  am  surprised  that  his  Lordship  would  advance  such 
charges  in  my  neighbourhood.  He  cannot  mean  the  regular 
clergy  of  Ireland.  As  to  the  regular  clergy  in  Catholic 
countries ;  they  enjoy  no  exemption  but  what  the  state 
grants,  as  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne  enjoys  no  exemption  but 
what  the  state  grants  to  himself.  Does  he  pretend  to  pre- 
scribe laws  to  Catholic  states ;  or  to  controul  their  power 
to  grant  what  exemptions  they  think  fit  to  the  children,  not 
only  of  noblemen  and  gentlemen,  but  to  the  children  of 
princes  ?  For  the  annals  of  religion  and  the  history  of  re- 
ligious orders  can  inform  him,  that  from  the  days  of  Saint 
Basil  to  this  very  day,  the  regular  clergy  can  mark  numbers 
of  such  a  description  in  their  calendar.  The  regular  clergy 
then  plead  no  exemption  but  what  he  pleads  himself;  the 
exemption  granted  by  the  state  wherein  they  live.  He  should 
not  envy  in  others  what  he  himself  enjoys  ;  for  I  suppose  it 
is  from  the  state  he  enjoys  the  privilege  of  pleading  the  scan- 
dalum  magnatum,  when  Richard  Woodward,  now  my  Lord 
Bishop  of  Cloyne,  gives  such  a  provocation  to  Arthur 
O'Leary,  as  to  become  the  eulogist  and  apologist  of  a  Theo- 
philus,  who  calls  him  a  Friar  with  a  barbarous  sirname, 
and  to  recommend  the  disuse  of  the  language  of  his  ances- 
tors. 

The  regular  clergy,  whether  here  or  elsewhere,  avow  no 
subjection  to  a  foreign  power  :  they  live  as  corporate  societies, 
under  their  peculiar  institutions  confirmed  by  church  and 
state  ;  the  boundaries  are  kept  distinct :  they  give  God  what 
belongs  to  God,  and  to  Caesar  his  due  :  whilst  they  live  as  a 
corporated  society,  they  will  plead  their  charter.  Thence, 
the  Pope  himself,  cannot  in  an  arbitrary  manner,  either  elect 
or  depose  their  superiors,  or  interfere  in  their  religious  polity  : 
he  may  annul  their  charter,  but  whilst  they  live  as  cor- 
porate societies,  they  will  maintain  their  institutions  which 
contain  nothing  obnoxious  either  to  church  or  state:  other- 
wise neither  would  give  them  a  sanction.  When  they  make 
their  vows,  it  is  not  to  become  vassals  to  the  Pope.     It  is  to 

*  1'asre  4S. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  310 

gratify  their  own  devotion  under  regulations,  which  at  a 
competent  age  they  have  twelve  months  probation  either  to 
adopt  or  reject. 

They  avow  no  subjection  to  a  foreign  power ;  and  I  call 
upon  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  to  prove  his  assertion. 
They  are  subjects  of  the  state,  swear  allegiance  to  their 
Prince,  and  are  as  faithful  as  any  other  subjects.  Trapolo, 
a  regular,  defended  the  privileges  of  his  country,  against 
Pope  Paul  the  Fifth,  and  immortalized  his  name.  Ximenes, 
a  regular,  raised  the  power  of  the  Spanish  monarchy,  and 
paved  the  way  for  the  splendid,  conquests  of  Charles  the 
Fifth.  Father  Joseph  de  la  Tremblay,  after  quitting  the  bar, 
and  becoming  a  regular,  was  forced  from  his  cloister  to  di- 
rect the  councils  of  Lewis  XIII.  He  planned  those  measures 
in  the  execution  of  which  Richlieu  appeared  as  the  ostensible 
agent,  and  which  by  humbling  the  House  of  Austria,  and 
lopping  off  the  heavy  branches  which  made  the  tree  of  the 
French  monarchy  bend  too  much,  gave  it  that  erect  posture 
and  firmness,  which  ever  since  have  been  proof  against  so 
many  storms.  In  Ireland,  during  the  unhappy  commotions 
which  distracted  this  kingdom  in  the  reign  of  Charles  the 
First,  who  could  have  exerted  himself  with  more  constancy 
than  Father  Peter  Walsh,  mentioned  with  honour  in  the  con- 
tinuation of  Sir  James  Ware  ?  Did  not  he  oppose 
Rimuccini,  the  Pope's  Legate,  who  afterwards  excommu- 
nicated him  at  Brussels  ?  Under  his  excommunication  he 
remained  unshaken  in  his  loyalty.  Or  what  is  there  in  a  re- 
gular clergyman's  frame  so  hostile  to  his  country,  as  to  in- 
duce the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  to  hold  him  forth  as  avowing 
a  subjection  to  a  foreign  power  ?  Is  not  a  man's  oath  to  be 
believed  ?  And  when  the  regular  clergy  swear  allegiance  to 
their  King,  is  not  their  oath  to  be  relied  on  ?  But  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  Cloyne  has  favoured  us  with  a  very  nice  distinc- 
tion. He  acknowledges  that  in  the  ordinary  transactions 
of  life  between  man  and  man,  the  oath  of  a  Catholic 
may  be  relied  on ;  but  when  his  church  is  in  danger,  then 
he  may  slacken  the  reins  and  bear  down  the  wounds  of 
sincerity. 

Where  has  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  discovered  this 
distinction?      Where  have   the   Catiiolics  taught  that  the 

X   T 


320  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

work  of  Heaven  is  to  be  promoted  by  the  agency  of  Hell  ? 
Is  the  Christian  religion  to  be  promoted  by  fraud,  profana- 
tion, and  perjury?  Does  he  really  believe  that  the  Catholics 
are  ignorant  of  that  maxim  of  Saint  Paul,  evil  is  not  to  be 
done  that  good  may  arise  from  it  ?  Non  sunt  facienda  mala 
uteveniant  bona.  Or  does  he  forget  that  the  scandalous  dis- 
tinction between  the  oath  of  a  Catholic,  in  the  ordinary 
transactions  of  life,  and  the  oath  in  which  his  religion  is 
concerned,  has  been  condemned  by  the  Catholic  Church, 
ages  before  it  could  be  foreseen  that  a  Bishop  or  any  other 
mortal  would  charge  her  with  such  a  doctrine  ?  This  very 
distinction  was  the  doctrine  of  Priscillian,  who  taught  his 
disciples  that  perjury  on  the  score  of  religion  was  lawful :  he 
was  condemned  by  the  council  of  Toledo,  and  burnt  alive. 
Speaking  of  the  Catholics  he  says,  that  men  are  better  than 
their  tenets.  It  may  be  so :  in  Sparta  it  was  a  tenet  that 
every  deformed  child  should  be  exposed  and  abandoned  to 
his  fates.  Parental  affection  in  some  might  have  eluded  such 
a  rigorous  law,  and  thus  proved  that  they  were  better  than 
their  tenets.  It  was  a  tenet  amongst  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Isle  of  Cyprus,  that  married  women  should  prostitute  them- 
selves once  a  year  in  the  Temple  of  Venus.  I  doubt  not 
but  conjugal  affection  and  female  modesty,  operated  with 
some  to  such  a  degree  as  to  induce  them  to  detest  the 
tenet ;  but  I  do  not  believe  that  there  is  this  day  on  earth, 
any  sect  of  Christians  half  so  good  as  their  tenets.  They 
may  differ  in  speculative  points,  but  the  principles  of  mo- 
rality are  the  same.  However,  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne 
is  best  acquainted  with  his  own  tenets,  and  if  they  be  as 
charitable  as  himself,  his  neighbours  should  entertain  a 
good  opinion  of  his  rule  of  faith.  However,  if  the  horrors 
of  violation  of  faith  with  heretics,  &c.  be  articles  of  or- 
thodoxy, certainly  not  only  some  Catholics,  but  all  Catho- 
lics, are  better  than  their  tenets;  and  without  any  dispa- 
ragement to  his  rank  or  dignity,  he  will  find  thousands 
amongst  them  as  honest,  upright,  and  honourable  as  himself, 
not  only  from  innate  principles,  but  from  the  very  tenor 
of  their  creed. 

He  alarms  the  Dissenters  with  the  apprehensions,  that  if 
they  do  not  assist  him  in  keeping  the  tithes,   the  Catholic 


MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS.  321 

clergy  will  have  them  with  the  assistance  of  a  foreign  power. 
Mr.  Barber  ingeniously  answers,  that  it  is  equal  to  him  who 
has  the  tithes,  whether  it  be  Peter,  Martin,  or  John,  when 
thev  are  of  no  benefit  to  him  either  with  regard  to  soul  or 
body.  If  his  Lordship  be  afraid  that  the  Catholic  clergy  will 
deprive  him  of  all  the  tithes,  with  the  assistance  of  a  foreign 
power  :  I  can  assure,  him  that  he  has  nothing  to  apprehend  : 
not  from  foreign  powers,  who  will  never  invade  Ireland  in 
order  to  procure  the  tithes  for  the  Catholic  clergy  :  this  in- 
deed, would  be  a  war  of  proctors  and  tithe- canters.  Fur- 
ther, I  can  assure  his  Lordship,  that  foreign  powers  are  more 
inclined  to  reduce  the  revenues  of  their  own  national  clergy, 
than  to  make  war  for  the  Catholic  clergy  of  Ireland.  But  do 
not  the  Catholic  clergy  believe  that  tithes  are  jure  divino  ? 
By  no  means  :  whoever  reads  Father  Paul,  and  Father  Simon, 
upon  benefices,  will  soon  discover  that  tithes  are  not  due  to 
the  Christian  priesthood  by  Gospel  law.  These  two  were 
Catholic  authors.  Bishop  Barlow  and  Selden,  amongst  the 
Protestants  proved  the  same.  I  would  not  mention  a  word 
about  them,  had  I  not  been  forced  into  the  field  with  the  Bi- 
shop's foreign  powers,  and  Theophilus's  jure  divino ;  and 
shall  say  of  them  but  very  little  :  they  were  not  known  in  the 
western  church,  until  about  the  seventh  or  eighth  century. 
The  clergy  had  influence  at  that  time  to  prevail  on  the  French 
kings  to  give  a  sanction  to  the  sixth  commandment  of  the 
church ;  Thou  shalt  pay  tithes  to  the  clergy :  this  was  a  law  of 
discipline,  liable  to  change  with  the  times,  and  of  no  force 
but  from  the  sanction  of  the  secular  power,  for  a  moral  and 
natural  right  founded  on  the  words,  the  labourer  is  worthy  of 
his  hire;  is  all  that  a  clergyman  can  plead.  In  the  Greek 
church  tithes  are  not  known  to  this  very  day,  and  in  the  Afri- 
can church,  Saint  Augustine  would  not  permit  his  own 
church  to  be  endowed,  foreseeing  the  bad  effects  of  the  riches 
of  the  clergy.  However,  in  the  west,  the  pious  laity,  with  the 
sanction  of  the  power  of  the  state,  endowed  each  church  under 
the  strict  obligations  that  three  dividends  should  be  made  ;  one 
for  the  support  of  the  clergyman ;  the  second,  for  the  repara- 
tion of  the  church;  and  the  third,  for  the  relief  of  the  poor.  Such 
was  the  original  institution ;  some  alterations  must  have  been 


322  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

since    made  in  the  manner  of  carrying  into  execution  the 
founder's  intentions  ;  for  the  part  that  was  originally  destined 
for  the  relief  of  the  poor,  now  goes  to  the  proctor.     And  as 
to  reparation  of  churches,  had  the  Whiteboys  burnt  the  new 
church,  if  the  old  church  had  not  been  left  to  them  for  a 
chapel,  or  hath  both  churches  fallen  to  the  ground,  I  am 
humbly  of  opinion  that  his  Lordship  of  Cloyne  would  sooner 
apply  for  a  parliamentary  grant,  than  be  at  the  expense  of 
contributing  the  third  part  of  his  tithes  towards  the  repair  of 
the  fabric.     Many  and  refined  have  been  the  improvements 
on  this  simple  institution  of  ecclesiastical  revenues. 

One  would  be  disposed  to  believe  that  there  was  a  certain 
magic  in  the  number  ten.     The  tenth  lamb,  the  tenth  pig, 
the  tenth  chicken,  the  tenth  sheaf,  every  thing  was  decima- 
ted :  every  tenth  animal  that  did  not  grow  to  the  size  of  a 
calf,  was  consecrated  to  the  clergy,  except  the  tenth  orphan. 
Peas,  beans,  all  kinds  of  garden  stuff,  were  surveyed  in  the 
name  of  God  and  the  Church ;  and  the  clergy  were  com- 
pared to  the  locusts  of  the  revelations,  devouring  all  kinds 
of  herbs  that  came  in  their  way,  except  such  as  were  noxious. 
As  theological  disputes  divided  them  in  the  interim,  their 
divisions  divided  unluckily  the  flocks,  and  what  was  more, 
divided  the  affections  of  the  people-     Under  various  changes 
of  creeds,  the  lucrative  system  remained  unaltered.     Pope 
Alexander  the  Third  was  the  first  who  issued  excommuni- 
cations for  the  recovery  of  tithes,  and  decreed  that  the  labours 
of  the  industrious  bee  should  contribute  to  the  support  of 
the  Lord's  anointed.     He  ordained  that  every  tenth  bee-hive 
should  be  sequestered  for  the  use  of  the  church.    The  clergy 
of  the  established  religion  in    England   and  Ireland,   who 
borrowed  their  pomp,  their  splendour  and  hierarchy  from 
the  church  of  Rome,  declared  from  their  pulpits,  that  the 
Pope  was  Antichrist.     Yet   in  reforming   the   religion   of 
Rome,  they  improved  upon   Pope   Alexander's  system,  by- 
insisting  upon  the  tithes  of  agistment  ;*  and  thus  raised  the 
claim  from  a  bee  to  a  bullock.  If  Pope  Alexander  thundered 
out  his  excommunications  on  the  score  of  tithes,  they  fired 

*  This  barbarous  word,  so  familiar  to  our  Irish  Canonists,    is  derived  from   an  old 
French  word,  signifying  to  drive  a  beast  into  a  field. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  323 

blunderbusses  in  defence  of  those  remnants  of  Popery ;  and 
dead  bodies  were  seen  laid  prostrate  in  fields,  in  consequence 
of  contests  for  consecrated  goods,  which  in  former  ages  the 
pious  laity  had  destined  for  the  support  of  the  living.  What- 
ever the  clergy  possess  by  law,  is  certainly  their  right,  and 
should  be  secured  to  them ;   but  when  people  argue,  they 
should  be  careful  not  to  advance  paradoxes;  and  that  the 
right  to  tithes  is  anterior  to  the  title  of  any  layman   to  his 
land,  is  a  paradox  indeed.     The  land  was  inhabited  by  the 
laity    before   St.  Patrick  preached   the   Gospel.     W  hat  he 
and  his  successors  got  was  a  free  gift  of  the  donors ;  and 
no  man  in  his   senses   will  deny  that  the  supreme  powers  of 
the  state  have  a  right  to  alter  any  system,  for  the  peace  and 
good  of  the  community :  1  shall  discuss  no  further  the  sub- 
ject of  tithes,  as  it  has  been  already  and  will   be  hereafter 
discussed  by  abler  pens:  if  I  summed  up  in  a  few  lines  their 
rise  and  progress,  it  is  to  shew  the  futility  of  the  charge  that 
the  Catholic  clergy  are  intent  upon  recovering  the  tithes  of 
this  kingdom,  with  the  assistance  of  foreign   powers,  as  if 
they  were  due  jure  divino.     Could  such  an  idle  thought  oc- 
cur to  any  man  who  did  not  intend  to  sport  with  common 
sense  ?    Will  any  man  of  sense  believe  that  the  formidable 
forces  of  France  and  Spain  would  be  poured,  at  vast  ex- 
penses, into  this   kingdom,  in  order  to   reinstate  a  few  Ca- 
tholic clergymen  in   the  tithes   of  potatos,  oats,  hay,  &c.  I 
am   ashamed   to   make    further   comments.     The  Catholic 
clergy  resuming  tithes  with  the  assistance  of  foreign  powers ! 
Lay-improprietors  threatened  with  the   loss  of    the  abbey- 
lands  which  would  revert  to  the  regular  clergy  !  When  the 
Reformation  was  but  in  its  infancy,  and  no  religion  in  Eng- 
land at  the  time,  but  veered  at  the  breath  of  each  succeed- 
ing  Monarch,  what  became   of  the    abbey-lands  ?    In  the 
short  space  that  intervened   between  the  dissolution  of  ab- 
beys and  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  there  was  not  sufficient 
time  to  found  the  title  of  prescription,   which   by  the  civil 
law  requires  a  space  of  thirty  years  for  immovables.    When 
that  Queen  ascended  the  throne  several  of  the  abbots  and 
priors  whose  monasteries  had  been  dissolved  were  living. 
Were  not  all  the  abbey-lands  confirmed  to  the  lay-possessors 
by  Cardinal  Pole,  with  full  authority  from  the  Pope.     And 


324  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

now,  under  a  Protestant  Sovereign,  after  a  lapse  of  more 
than  two  centuries,  a  prelate  raises  the  alarm  against  per- 
sons who  thought  as  little  of  depriving  him  of  his  tithes,  or 
the  lay  gentlemen  of  their  impropriations,  as  the  inoffensive 
citizen  thought  of  depriving  of  his  life  a  suspicious  prince, 
who,  in  his  uneasy  slumbers,  dreamed  that  he  cut  his  throat, 
and  put  the  innocent  man  to  death. 

I  am  in  no  manner  concerned  in  tithes,  but  I  appeal  to 
to  his  Lordship  whether,  at  different  times,  they  have  not 
been  the  occasion  of  popular  commotions  ?  Whether,  at  dif- 
ferent times,  the  cottager  who  plants  the  potato,  and  the 
farmer  who  commits  the  grain  to  the -earth,  does  not  re- 
alize the  fable  of  the  man  who  sowed  the  dragon's  teeth,  which 
afterwards  vegetated  into  armed  men  ?  Whether  an  honour- 
able support,  free  from  litigations  and  wrangles  with  pa- 
rishioners of  every  description,  would  not  comport  more 
with  the  dignity  of  the  clerical  profession?  And  whether 
this  be  not  the  opinion  and  wish  of  the  most  sensible  cler- 
gymen of  the  established  religion  ?  If  I  am  asked  the 
reason  why  I  should  interfere  in  tithes  ?  I  answer,  that  the 
radical  cause  of  the  distemper  being  not  removed,  it  may 
break  out  at  some  future  period  ;  and  that  when  the  bram- 
ble shoots  from  the  sod  which  will  cover  me,  the  wrangles 
of  oppressed  peasants  may  be  construed  into  a  Popish  con- 
federacy. 

His  Lordship  endeavours  to  refute  the  Bishop  of  Llan- 
daff's  arguments  by  the  disparity  of  circumstances,  as  the 
number  of  the  Dissenters  of  both  communions  is  greater 
in  Ireland.  I  take  the  liberty  of  asking  him  one  ques- 
tion— is  it  because  there  is  less  to  do,  that  the  salary  of 
the  labourer  must  be  increased  at  the  expense  of  the  cot- 
tager ?  Does  he  really  believe  that  an  honest  Dissenter 
will  be  saved  ?  Does  he  believe  that  an  honest  Catholic 
will  be  saved  ?  If  he  does,  why  this  zeal  for  conversion 
which  alarms  the  nation  ?  It  is  equal  to  any  state  whether 
the  hand  that  steers  the  plough  crosses  the  forehead  or 
not,  provided  the  man  be  honest  and  industrious.  He  com- 
plains of  the  zeal  of  the  Catholic  Laity  to  make  converts, 
and  the  supineness  of  the  Protestant  gentlemen  in  not  con- 
verting Catholics.  Will  he  have  a  Protestant  landlord 
turn  missionary,  and  invade  the  episcopal  functions  ?     If  his 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS-  32j 

Lordship  be  so  zealous  for  the  salvation  of  the  people, 
why  not  learn  their  language  ?  The  Catholic  missionaries 
who  penetrated  into  the  vast  empire  of  China,  learned  the 
Chinese,  though  there  are  eight  hundred  letters  in  the 
alphabet,  and  each  letter  stands  for  a  word.  They  con- 
verted millions  of  the  people,  translated  the  writings  of 
their  philosophers,  and  brought  Europe  acquainted  with 
thp  laws,  customs  and  morals  of  that  singular  country. 
His  Lordship  is  not  under  the  necessity  of  travelling  far 
to  learn  the  language ;  it  is  at  his  door :  and  an  English 
pastor  may  as  well  learn  the  Irish  as  Colonel  Vallancey, 
an  English  officer.  His  Lordship  will  excuse  this  free- 
dom— it  is  as  a  writer  who  called  me  forth  that  I  address 
him  throughout :  my  respect  for  a  Bishop's  character  is  a 
restraint  which  I  would  shake  off,  if  a  person  of  an  inferior 
rank  called  on  Government  to  bring  into  disuse  the  lan- 
guage of  a  country.  It  is  what  conquerors  themselves  sel- 
dom have  done.  The  polished  Frenchman  has  never  at- 
tempted to  abolish  the  low  dialect  of  the  Breton ;  the  grave 
Spaniard  leaves  the  Biscayen  to  the  use  of  his  speech  ;  and 
the  English  have  not  abolished  the  Welsh  or  Erse :  the 
Irish  must  have  the  badge  of  scorn.  As  to  conversions 
made  by  the  Catholic  laity,  I  do  not  find  it  an  easy  mat- 
ter :  fasts,  confession  of  sins,  the  belief  of  mysteries  which 
surpass  and  seem  to  contradict  the  very  senses,  penal 
laws  and  legal  disqualifications,  are  no  great  inducements  to 
conversion.  Suppose  that  a  Protestant,  struck  with  the 
same  arguments  which  made  some  German  princes,  Chil- 
lingworth  and  Dryden,  to  embrace  the  Catholic  faith ;  sup- 
pose a  Protestant  of  any  sect  became  a  Catholic,  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  Cloyne,  upon  the  very  principles  of  the  Reformation, 
which  allows  freedom  of  thought  and  the  right  of  private 
judgment,  could  not  in  equity  censure  him.  Every  one 
is  free  to  embrace  the  religion  that  seems  best  to  him. 
It  is  the  privilege  of  nature ;  and  a  convert  to  the  Catholic 
religion  is  sufficiently  punished  by  a  conformity  that  deprives, 
him  almost  of  every  privilege.  Many  a  learned  man  has 
quitted  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne's  communion.  The 
famous  Whiston  wrote  to  the  Archbishop  of  York  and  Can- 
terbury, assigning  the  reasons  of  his  separation  from  the 


326  ailSCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

church  of  England.  And  not  long  ago  Lindsay  resigned 
his  benefice,  in  order  to  offer  up  his  prayers  to  one  God  in 
one  person,  and  expunged  the  name  of  Christ  from  the 
collect.  The  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  would  make  a  more 
glorious  conquest  in  reclaiming  Doctor  Priestly  and  Lind- 
say, than  if  he  converted  a  hundred  Irish  peasants.  1  see  no 
reason  for  alarming:  the  nation  with  the  danger  of  the  church. 
Little  did  the  world  imagine  a  few  centuries  ago  that  a  sin- 
gle German  friar  would  have  shaken  the  pontifical  throne, 
and  brought  about  the  most  astonishing  revolution  that  the 
world  ever  beheld.  Ever  since  that  memorable  aera  the 
Protestant  religion,  from  a  small  beginning,  is  rapidly  in- 
creasing. When  there  were  Catholic  kings  on  the  throne, 
it  gained  ground.  It  is  then  very  much  out  of  season  now 
to  alarm  three  kingdoms  with  the  news  that  at  this  mo- 
ment the  church  of  Ireland  is  in  imminent  danger  of  sub- 
version. 

The  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  believes  two  Sacraments  ne- 
cessary to  salvation.  If  he  could  gain  over  to  the  established 
church  all  the  inhabitants  of  Ireland  who  believe  that  nei- 
ther is  necessary  to  salvation,  it  would  be  a  great  acquisition 
to  the  established  religion.  His  Lordship  adverts  to  the 
total  indifference  of  many  foreverykind  of  religion.  Could 
he  but  kindle  the  flames  of  piety  and  fervor  in  the  breasts 
of  such  people,  it  would  be  of  infinite  advantage.  And  if  he 
could  keep  within  the  pale  of  the  established  church,  such 
as  are  willing  to  form  modes  of  worship  for  themselves,  or 
reclaim  such  as  have  quitted  it  within  those  many  years 
without  becoming  Catholics,  he  would  leave  no  room  to 
complain  of  the  majority  of  Dissenters.  What  a  field  is 
open  here  for  pastoral  zeal !  It  is  a  Herculean  task  indeed, 
and  worthy  of  a  prelate  of  distinguished  abilities.  But 
want  of  Baptism,  Deism,  separation  from  the  established 
church,  and  altar  against  altar,  cannot  draw  forth  the  pen  of 
the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne.  The  stability  of  tithes  and  the 
downfal  of  Popery  are  his  only  themes.  The  wag  on  the 
stage  received  many  a  plaudit,  who,  on  being  asked  his  reli- 
gion, answered  that  he  loved  a  pot  of  porter,  and  hated  po- 
pery.  Let  a  Theophilus  abuse  Catholics  and  revile  Mr. 

O'Leary;  he  is  called  an  able  writer  in  the  beginning,  and 


Miscellaneous  traces*  327 

excused  on  the  score  of  his  apprehensions  for  the  safety  of 
religion  at  the  end  of  a  pamphlet*  Cargoes  of  abstracts 
against  popery  are  daily  imported  from  England ;  luckily 
they  arrive  out  of  season  ;  for  the  nation  knows  the  purport 
of  them.  If  violation  of  faith  with  heretics  be  the  reason  of 
the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne's  attack,  the  Catholics  disclaim, 
it  on  oath.  And  whoever  does  not  believe  the  oath  of  aa 
honest  man,  deserves  no  answer.  There  is  address  and  in- 
genuity in  laying  so  often  a  stress  upon  the  word  heretics* 
When  mentioned  by  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  it  conveys 
an  idea  that  the  Catholics  alone  consider  those  who  ares 
reared  out  of  their  church  as  heretics.  His  Lordship  will, 
I  hope,  have  the  generosity  to  divide  the  imputation  with* 
Mr.  O'Leary.  Does  the  church  of  England  acknowledge 
that  there  are  no  heretics  ?  Have  not  her  bishops  pro- 
nounced them  as  such  after  a  canonical  trial  ?  Has  not  the 
civil  magistrate,  nursed  in  her  bosom,  doomed  them  to  the 
fagot  ?  The  inquisition  could  do  no  more  :  for  the  eccle- 
siastical judge  barely  confines  himself  to  a  declaration  that 
such  doctrine  is  heretical.  The  magistrate,  armed  with  the 
power  of  the  law,  pronounces  sentence,  and  sees  it  carried 
into  execution. 

Doctor  Godolphin,  a  Protestant  canonist,  in  his  Abridge- 
ment of  the  Ecclesiastical  Laws  of  England,  after  Sir  Ed- 
ward Coke,  calls  heresy  a  leprosy  of  the  soul  ,**  and  gives  a 
description  of  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  thirty- seven  he- 
resies. If  he  was  now  living  he  could  add  to  the  catalogue 
many  new  doctrines,  which  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne 
would  declare  strange  and  erroneous  by  his  consecration  oath. 
Human  victims  were  seen  marching  to  the  stake  with  fagots 
on  their  backs  to  purge  in  the  flames  the  pollution  of  heresy, 
under  a  Protestant  Elizabeth  and  a  Protestant  James,  as 
under  a  half  Catholic  Henry  and  a  Catholic  Mary.  And. 
those  strange  and  erroneous  doctrines  which  the  Lord  Bishop 
of  Cloyne  promises  by  his  consecration  oath  to  banish  and 
drive  away,  banished  3nd  drove  away  effectually  Dissenters 


Godolpbin  RppertoriMtn  Canonicuro. 
U    U 


328  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

and  Catholics  into  the  wilds  of  America,  in  the  reign  of  that 
James,  whom  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  applauds  for  his 
wise  saying,  No  Bishop  no  King.  Those  strange  and  erro- 
neous doctrines,  banished  and  drove  away  the  Catholic  Lord 
Baltimore,  into  Maryland,  for  bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus  ; 
and  that  great  Penn,  who  deserved  half  the  world,  for  teach- 
ing Sovereigns  how  to  govern  the  other.  They  banished 
and  drove  away  Penn  into  Pennsylvania,  for  not  bowing  at 
all ;  for  having  rejected  the  ceremony  of  the  hat,  and  wear- 
ing a  few  flit  juttons  on  a  plain  uaornamented  coat.  Those 
two  great  tnen,  persecuted  for  their  strange  erroneous  doc- 
trines, and  still  diametrically  opposite  in  religious  principles, 
planted  their  colonies  where  they  granted  free  toleration  to 
all  mortals ;  and  where  is  man  now  restored  to  the  indelible 
charter,  which  the  free-born  mind  is  entitled  to  plead.  They 
resembled  the  two  brave  soldiers,  who  were  always  quarrel- 
ling by  the  instigation  of  their  comrades,  without  knowing 
why.  A  general  rout  came  on,  in  the  flight  they  both  fell 
into  a  deep  pit.  Said  one,  if  I  kill  you,  what  shall  I  benefit 
by  your  death?  Your  putrified  body  will  stifle  me.  The  other 
retorted  in  the  same  tone  ;  they  saw  the  common  danger, 
and  agreed  ;  one  leaped  on  the  shoulders  of  the  other,  and 
reached  the  verge  of  the  pit,  out  of  which  he  helped 
his  fellow  sufferer.  They  both  retired  in  peace,  and 
lived  ever  after  in  amity.  Lord  Baltimore  and  Penn  did  the 
same. 

The  recollection  of  such  melancholy  scenes  induces  me  to 
applaud  my  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  for  declaring  in  his  in- 
troduction, that  it  is  not  his  object  to  enter  into  the  defence 
of  ecclesiastical  establishments  in  general.  It  would  be  a 
heavy  task  indeed,  since  the  beginning  of  ecclesiastical  esta- 
blishments until  of  late,  sovereigns  seduced  by  the  counsels  of 
the  clergy,  became  the  executioners  of  their  subjects.  The 
ministers  of  a  religion,  one  of  whose  principal  laws  is  a  law 
of  eternal  love,  became  the  apologists  of  calamities,  that  swept 
fn>m  the  face  of  the  earth,  or  oppressed  to  this  very  day, 
God's  noblest  images,  upright,  virtuous,  and  dauntless  men. 
Like  the  warrior  in  the  Scriptures,  they  stept  into  the  sane- 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  329 

wary  to  grasp  the  barbarian's  sword  wrapt  up  in  the  ephod. 
The  code  of  temporal  laws,  teeming  with  sanctions  against 
robbers  and  murderers,  was  sweiied  to  the  surprise  and  de- 
struction of  mankind,  with  additional  decrees  against  he- 
retics and  papists.  The  inoffensive  citizen,  who  from  an 
apprehension  of  offending  the  deity,  by  acting  against  his 
conscience,  was  confined  in  the  same  dungeon,  or  doomed 
to  the  fagot  or  axe  with  the  parricide,  who  iaid  aside  every 
restraint  of  moral  obligation.  The  scriptures  were  adduced 
in  justification  of  the  sanguinary  confusion.  Out  of  every 
contested  verse  there  issued  a  iury  armed  with  a  qiubbie 
and  a  poniard,  who  inspired  mankind  at  once  with  folly  and 
cruelty,  and  Europe  became  one  wild  altar,  on  which  every 
religious  sect  offered  up  human  victims  to  its  creed.  b\:>  a 
are  the  effects  of  ecclesiastical  establishments  in  a  long  suc- 
cession of  ages.  The  effects  ascribed  to  them  by  the  right 
reverend  author,  as  infusing  morality  as  a  collateral  aid  to 
the  check  of  the  law.  would  have  been  produced  in  a  more 
heavenly  manner,  by  religion  uncontrouied  by  the  terror  of 
penal  sanctions;  and  its  rays  never  bhone  brighter  than 
when  its  ministers  had  no  other  sword  to  enforce  it,  but  the 
two  edged  sword  of  the  peaceful  doctrine  of  its  Author.  It 
is  not  then  to  the  lenity  of  ecclesiastical  establishment,  that 
men  are  indebted  for  the  freedom  they  enjoy,  but  to  the 
lenity  of  the  state  ;  and  to  the  exalted  souls  and  enlarged 
minds  of  the  illustrious  senators,  who  have  cast  off  the  sable 
weeds  of  priestly  bigotry,  to  put  on  the  bright  and  radient 
livery  of  enlightened  reason,  which  religion  enlarges  into  an 
extensive  asylum,  instead  of  contracting  into  a  narrow  and 
favourite  spot,  which  it  is  penal  (but  for  a  few)  to  look  at. 
The  gloom  which  the  Lord  Bishop  of  C'oyne's  pamphlet 
has  spread  on  every  countenance,  and  the  mutual  distrust 
and  jealousy  which  have  succeeded  the  strictest  sincerity? 
and  amity  since  the  publication  of  his  performance,  are  no 
mighty  recommendations  of  ecclesiastical  establishments: 
The  blood  of  fifty  millions  of  men.  cut  off  by  the  sword  of 
persecution,  since  the  state  unsheathed  it  in  defence  of  ec- 
clesiastical establishments  :  The  oppression,  banishment  and 
imprisonment  of  many  more  !  The  blood  of  the  Jain  cries 
under  the   altar,  to  the  powers  of  the  earth,- — Leave  your 


330  MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS. 

subjects  free. — Let  the  priests  pray  ;  but  do  not  draw  the 
sword  in  defence  of  their  prayers ;  for  they  will  never  pray 
alike. 

I  should  never  have  mentioned  tithes,  lest  any  of  the  esta- 
blished clergy  should  imagine  I  envied  them  what  in  former 
times  belonged  to  the  Catholic  clergy,  and  which  the  laws 
now  secure  to  the  clergy  of  the  established  church;  but 
when  I  saw  in  a  pamphlet,  of  which  the  Lord  Bishop  of 
Cloyne  becomes  the  eulogist,  a  heavy  and  infamous  charge, 
that  the  Catholic  clergy  consider  tithes  due  to  themselves 
jure  divino,  and  encourage  the  laity  to  plunder  the  Pretes- 
tant  ministers  for  their  own  benefit,  I  gave  a  short  account 
of  their  origin.  In  my  addresses  to  the  Whiteboys,  the 
reader  can  see  in  what  manner  1  enforced  the  payment  of 
them.  The  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  was  unthankful  to  me ; 
in  return,  I  paid  my  complements  to  tithes  and  ecclesiastical 
establishments.  I  consider  both  as  oppressive  in  Ireland, 
and  elsewhere.  If  I  do  not  speak  with  all  that  softness  of 
churchmen,  with  which  I  certainly  would  have  spoken  upon 
another  occasion ;  it  is  not  certainly  from  any  disrespect  for 
the  ecclesiastical  profession.  Severity  regards  such  as  have 
at  different  times  abused  their  sacred  characters  from  want 
of  charity,  or  from  want  of  disinterestedness,  or  both.  The 
worthy  are  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  unworthy,  no 
more  than  the  chaff  should  be  confounded  with  the  pure 
and  wholesome  grain. 

I  wish  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne  had  called  me  forth  in 
more  favourable  circumstances,  and  in  a  general  cause ;  but 
he  calls  me  forth  under  the  heaviest  provocations,  after  hav-? 
ing  declared  himself  the  apologist  of  a  Theophilus,  who  ex- 
haust the  glossary  of  Billingsgate  in  a  personal  abuse : — • 
4  Whoever  reads  his  Lordship's  pamphlet,  must  consider  the 
4  Catholic  prelates  as  perjurers;  the  laity  as  enemies  to  the 
4  constitution,  from  a  view  to  the  revenues  of  the  church, 
4  with  the  assistance  of  foreign  power :  and  Mr.  O'Leary, 
4  seditious  with  a  train  of  agitating  Friars  and  Romish  mis- 
4  sionaries.'  If  there  be  a  plurality  of  worlds,  I  must  have 
been  born  in  the  planet  of  Saturn,  if  I  did  not  feel  a  certain 
warmth  after  such  a  provocation, 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  331 

It  cannot  be  expected  that  I  will  lose  the  little  time  I  have 
to  spare  from  my  own  important  functions,  in  answering 
anonymous  writers,  or  even  authors  who  may  prefix  their 
names  to  pamphlets.  The  only  person  that  I  shall  take  the 
trouble  of  answering,  is  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne. 


APPENDIX. 


Reverend  JWr.   O^Learyh  Address  to  the   Common  People 

of  Ireland,  particularly  to  such  of  them 

as  are  called  Whiteboys. 


Brethren  and  Countrymen, 

I  addressed  you  before  in  the  time  of  open  war,  when  the 
enemies  of  your  King  and  Country  were  within  view  of  our 
coasts.  Your  prudent  and  peaceable  conduct,  at  that  criti- 
cal time,  answered  the  expectations  of  your  instructors, 
and  procured  you  the  countenance  and  approbation  of  your 
rulers ;  the  defenceless  cottager  was  protected  by  the  ho- 
nesty of  his  neighbour;  order  and  tranquillity  reigned  all 
over  the  land  :  each  member  of  the  community  was  secure 
in  his  respective  rights  and  property  :  and  whilst  the  plains 
of  America  were  d)ed  with  blood,  and  England  was  con- 
vulsed by  the  insurrections  of  the  lower  classes,  who  were 
either  cut  off  by  the  army,  or  atoned  on  the  gallows  for  the 
violation  of  the  laws,  you  felt  the  happy  effects  of  a  quiet 
and  orderly  conduct. 

Nature  and  religion,  my  brethren,  recommend  this  peace- 
able and  orderly  conduct  to  man:  to  a  peaceable  and  orderly 
conduct,  nature  annexes  our  happiness,  and  religion  enjoins 
it  as  a  duty.  We  are  born  with  inclinations  for  order  and 
peace,  and  we  have  the  happiness  to  live  under  the  wise  laws 
of  a  Gospel,  whose  counsels  and  precepts,  whose  threats 
and  promises,  inspire  the  union  of  the  hearts,  and  to  do  to 
others  as  we  would  wish  to  be  done  by. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.      '  333 

Whence  then  those  disturbances  which  oflate  have  been 
occasioned  by  some  of  you  in  the  diocese  of  Cloyne,  and 
which  now  beg-in  to  reach  to  the  diocese  of  Cork?  You  will 
tell  me,  that  your  grievances  are  the  cause  :  I  doubt  it  not  my 
brethren  ;  but  still,  under  our  grievances  are  we  to  forget  that 
we  are  Christians  ?  Under  our  grievances,  are  we  to  forget 
that  the  Providence  of  God  has  made  an  unequal  distribution 
of  the  goods  of  this  life,  reserving  a  perfect  equality  for  the 
next?  Under  our  grievances,  are  we  to  forget  that  when  our 
distresses  are  not  the  effects  of  our  crimes,  or  imprudence, 
resignation  to  the  will  of  heaven  becomes  an  indispensable 
duty  ?  Are  we  to  forget  that  the  way  of  the  Cross  is  the  road 
to  the  Crown  ;  and  that  although  religion  does  not  condemn 
these  distinctions  of  rank,  fortunes,  and  authority  established 
by  Providence,  for  the  subordination  of  subjects,  and  the 
tranquillity  of  States,  yet  there  are  more  promises  made  in  the 
Scriptures,  in  favour  of  those  who  suffer,  than  in  favour  of 
those  who  live  in  ease  and  opulence.  And  although  the  gates 
of  salvation  are  open  to  the  rich  who  make  good  use  of  their 
wealth,  as  they  are  to  the  poor  who  suffer  with  patience,  yet 
the  Scripture  declares  that  they  are  narrower  for  the  former 
than  for  the  latter.  In  this  life  there  must  be  grievances 
which  no  human  wisdom  can  redress  :  the  inconveniences 
arising  from  them  are  counterbalanced  by  the  expectation  of 
a  better,  promised  by  the  Divine  Author  of  our  religion,  who 
has  set  us  the  example  of  patience  and  suffering.  The  soldier, 
led  on  by  his  General,  encounters  death  with  intrepidity  in 
hopes  of  victory,  which  soon  after  vanishes  as  smoke.  And 
shall  a  Christian,  called  to  an  immortal  crown,  refuse  to  fol- 
low his  king,  who  rears  up  the  banners  of  the  cross,  and  cries 
out,  Take  up  your  cross  and  follow  me  in  the  paths  of  eternal 
life?  To  a  worldling  plunged  in  the  luxuries  of  life,  such  an 
address  will  appear  insipid ;  but  on  you  who  are  not  lost  to 
the  feelings  of  religion,  it  will  have  a  different  effect.  Per. 
haps  when  he  comes  to  that  part  of  it  in  which  mention  is 
made  of  crosses  and  sufferings,  he  will  lay  it  aside,  and  say, 
Mr.  O'Leary  should  write  to  those  people  in  another  style, 
and  threaten  them  with  curses,  excommunications,  halters, 
and  gibbets.  No,  my  brethren,  curses  and  excommunications 
lose  their  effect,  when  lavished  with  too  much  profusion  : 


334  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

truth  must  not  be  made  odious  by  the  harsh  manner  in  which 
it  is  conveyed:  the  nature  of  man  is  such,  that  he  is 
gained  upon  by  example  and  sweetness,  more  than  by 
rudeness  and  severity :  he  is  apt  to  hate  the  hand  that  is  raised 
up  to  strike  him,  though  it  be  for  his  correction;  but 
he  loves  the  hand  that  is  stretched  out  to  cure  him.  Sweet- 
ness, tenderness,  and  charity  should  form  the  principle  cha- 
racter of  a  clergyman,  and  become  the  predominant  spirit  of 
his  functions — they  were  not  lions,  but  lambs,  which  our  Sa- 
viour sent  to  preach  his  Gospeh  it  is  to  their  patience,  their 
mildness,  their  prayers  and  sufferings,  that  we  are  indebted  for 
the  conversion  of  the  world,  and  the  propagation  of  our  Mi- 
nistry. And  I  should  be  very  sorry  that  you  vvould  derive 
no  benefit  from  my  instructions  but  a  string  of  curses,  which 
perhaps  you  would  get  by  heart  from  no  other  view  than  to 
vent  them  upon  your  children  in  a  fit  of  anger  or  resentment. 
As  to  halters  and  gibbets,  the  best  way  to  restrain  the  hand, 
is  to  change  the  heart,  which,  when  regulated  by  the 
Gospel  law,  will  sacrifice  the  hand  sooner  than  give  of- 
fence. 

However,  my  brethren,  it  is  not  in  the  nature  of  man  to 
suffer  under  grievances  which  he  can  lawfully  remove  ;  it  is 
When  the  remedy  fails,  or  cannot  be  lawfully  had,  that  patience 
becomes  our  only  and  most  salutary  resource,  and  I  appeal  to 
such  of  you  as  have  been  guilty  of  any  outrages,  whether  the 
steps  you  have  taken  to  redress  your  grievances  be  either 
conformable  to  the  laws  of  God  or  nature,  or  whether  they 
can  ever  answer  any  other  purpose  than  that  of  drawing  on 
ourselves  the  vengeance  of  the  law.  Is  it  an  effectual  mode 
of  redressing  our  grievances  to  crop  the  ears  of  your  neigh- 
bour's horse,  or  to  destroy  a  rick  of  corn,  the  only  resource 
of  a  poor  industrious  farmer  who  has  no  other  means  to 
pay  his  rent,  and  who,  thrust  into  prison  by  a  merciless  land- 
lord, will  be  for  entire  years,  perhaps  for  life,  viewing  on  the 
walls  of  a  gloomy  prison,  the  cruel  marks  of  your  barbarity  ? 
Whence  arose  the  savage  custom  of  houghing  the  most  harm- 
less and  useful  of  animals,  the  horse,  the  cow  ?  We  read  of 
nations  not  enlightened  by  the  Christian  religion,  yet  figure 
to  themselves  a  supreme  Being,  the  fountain  of  tenderness 
and  mercy.     These  people  think  it  a  sin  to  deprive  any  crea- 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS,  335 

ture  of  that  life  which  the  Supreme  Being  has  given  it,  and 
consequently  never  eat  fish  or  flesh.  To  guard  against  the 
love  of  pleasure,  and  to  check  the  desires  which  may  arise 
from  the  sight  of  any  object,  some  of  them  pluck  out  their 
eyes,  alleging  that  if  they  have  shut  two  doors  against  their 
passions,  they  have  opened  a  thousand  doors  to  wisdom  by 

Qualifying  themselves  for  the  undistracted  contemplation  of 
[eavenly  things.     The  Gospel  does  not  require  such  se- 
verity from  you.    But  I  appeal  to  yourselves  if  these  Pagans 
will  not  rise  up  in  judgment  against  the  Christians  who  are 
guilty  of  acts  of  cruelty  ?     What,  my  brethren,  have  you 
forgotten  the  commandments  of  God,  who  takes  your  neigh- 
bour's ox  and  horse  under  his  protection  ?  For  when  he 
forbids  us  to  covet  them,  he  commands  us  not  to  injure  them. 
You   will  tell  me  that   if  you   have  cropped  two  or  three 
horses   and   burnt  some  ricks  of  corn,  the   injury  has  been 
done  only  to  Parish  Proctors,  those  ieeches  whom  you  con- 
sider as  your  greatest  oppressors,  who  every  season  do  you 
infinitely  more  harm :  but  this  is  a  weak  plea  in  the  eyes  of 
God,  who  commands  us  to  love  our  enemies,  and  to  do  good 
to  those  who  do  us  harm  :  who,  after  securing  man's  life  and 
reputation  by  the  fifth  commandment,  that,  says,  thou  shall  not 
kill;  and  his  honour  and  domestic  tranquillity,  by  the  sixth, 
which  says,  thou  shah  not  commit  adultery,  becomes  himself  the 
watchful  guardian  of  his  temporal  substance  ;  by  the  seventh, 
which  says,  thou  shalt  not  steal,,  and  stifles  in  the  heart  every 
desire  of  fraud  and  injustice  by  the  ninth.     The  command- 
ment being  general  extends  to  all :  hence  he  screens  the  poor 
from  the   oppression   of  the   rich  :  forbids  the  poor  under 
pretence  of  poverty  to  waste  or  plunder  the   property   of 
the  rich,  and  establishes  the   general  and  permanent  peace 
of  society  on  the  love  of  our  enemies,  and  that  maxim  of  the 
law  of  nature,  not  to  do  to  others  what  we  would  not  wish  to 
be  done  to  us  ;  much  less  will   the  quality  of  a  Proctor  ex- 
cuse you  in  the  eyes  of  the  law,  which  punishes  the  crime 
without  any  regard   to  the  quality  of  the    injuries  or  in- 
jured. 

I  am  happy  to  find  that  these  disturbances  have  ceased  af- 
ter a  very  short  duration,  and  though  mightily  magnified  at 
a  distance,  have  been  confined  but  to  a  few  parishes  in  the 

x  x 


33(3  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

dioceses  of  Cloyne  and  Cork,  and  that  but  few  mis- 
, guided  per>ons  have  been  concerned  in  them.  Bur  1  am 
so  icy  jou  have  adopted  a  new  plan,  which  however 
■  moderate,  and  though  certainly  founded  on  your  pover- 
ty on  one  hand,  and  the  oppressive  manner  of  collect- 
ing; the  tithes  on  the  other,  is  very  improper,  and  may 
prove  of  the  most  fatal  consequence  to  yourselves.  The 
following  caution,  which  however  it  may  involve  your- 
selves m  trouble,  if  carried  into  execution,  yet  will  con- 
vince the  kingdom,  that  the  few  breaches  of  the  peace 
,\vhich  happened  in  this  county,  have  not  originated  in  a 
spirit  of  rebellion,  as  has  been  insiduously  and  scanda- 
lously insinuated.  The  following  caulion,  1  say,  has 
been,  within  these  few  days,  affixed  to  the  gates  of  parish 
Churches  and  Chapels: 

Copy — 'You  are  hereby  cautioned  not  to  pay  Minis- 
'  ters'  Tithes,  only  in  the  following  manner,  viz.  porta- 
i  tos,  4s.  per  acre,  wheat  and  barley,  \s.  6d.  per  acre, 
'oats  and  meadows,  l.v.  per  acre — Roman  Catholic 
*  Cle»gy  to  receive  for  marriages,  5s.  for  baptism,  Is.  Qd. 
'  for  anointing  and  visitation  of  the  sick,  Vs.  for  mass,,  Is. 
'  for  confession,  Qd.  :  you  are  hereby  warned  not  to  pay 
'Clerk  money,*  nor  any  other  dues  concerning  mar- 
'riages;  be  all  sure  not  to  go  to  any  expenses  at  your 
'  confessing  turns,  but  let  them  partake  of  your  own  fare/ 
It  is  needless  lo  remind  you  of  what  the  Dublin  Shop- 
keeper has  already  informed  you  of,  that  posting  up  no- 
tices is  a  misdemeanor  punishable  b>  law,  and  that  your 
imprudence  may  hurry  you  unwarily  into  several  branch-* 
es  of  the  clauses  of  the  W  hiteboy  Act,  that  decree  death 
against  offences,  which  to  you  may  not.  seem  of  such 
importance.  You  may  in  like  manner  be  led  into  the 
snare  by  imagining  that  this  act  is  not  now  in  force  ;  it 
is  in  full  force  until  the  month  of  June,  in  the  year  seven- 
teen hundred  and  eighty-seven.  Many  and  severe  are 
the  clauses  of  that  act;  and  though  an  English  writer 
says  that  they  are  betier  calculated  for  the  meridian  of 
Barbary,  than  for  a  Christian  country, t  yet  the  severer 
they  are,  the  more  you  should  be  on  your  guard  :  con- 
sider the  danger  to  which  you  are  exposed  from  the  lo- 

*  Those  Clerks  are  such  as  attend  on  Priests. 
■f  See  Young's  Tour  in  Ireland. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 


337 


gic  and  eloquence  of  Crown  Lawyers,  the  perjury  of 
witnesses,  or  the  prejudices  of  juries.  !  am  informed 
that  the  one  who  is  to  swear  against  some  of  you  who 
are  now  in  gaol,  is  one  of  the  greatest  villains  in  the 
kingdom,  and  escaped  the  gallows  some  years  ago. 

But  to  return  to  the  caution.  Fray,  my  brethren, 
what  right  have  you  to  curtail,  of  your  own  authority, 
the  income  of  the  Protestant  Clergy?  I  shall  not  go 
over  the  same  ground  trodden  already  by  the  Dublin 
Shopkeeper,  on  this  subject :  he  proves,  that  if  the  tithes 
became  the  property  of  the  laity,  they  would  raise  their 
rents  in  proportion  :  or  is  it  because  that,  from  the  ear- 
liest ages  of  the  world,  those  who  believed  in  the  hue 
God,  have  consecrated  to  him  a  part  ol  the  fruits  of '  he 
earth,  you  will  think  it  an  heavier  burthen  to  pay  <he 
same  thing,  because  ii  was  in  conformity  to  ihe  law  of 
God,  that  the  laws  of  Christian  slates  have  appointed 
it?  You  know  that  she  rules  of  justice  extend  to  all 
without  exception,  and  that,  to  use  the  familiar  phrase, 
every  one  should  have  his  own,  whether  he  be  Fro 
ant  or  Catholic,  lurk  or  Christian.  It  is  more  your  in- 
terest than  you  imagine  that  the  Protestant  Clergy  of 
this  country  should  be  maintained  in  their  rights:  for 
many  ages  you  have  been  defenceless,  destitute  of  any; 
protection  against   the  power  of  your  land.  our 

clergy  liable  to  transportation  or  death.  The  mild  and 
tolerating  spirit  of  the  clergy  of  the  established  religion 
has  been  the  only  substitute  for  all  other  resources. 
They  trained  up  from  their  early  days  the  Protestant 
Nobility  and  Gentry  in  the  principles  of  morality  and 
virtue.  If  they  preached  against  purgatory*  they  en- 
forced charity  :  if  they  denied  the  real  presence,  they 
took  special  care  to  inform  their  flock,  that  whoever 
does  injustice  to  any  one,  either  in  his  property  <>r  re- 
putation, is  unworthy  to  approach  the  Communion. 
If  they  denied  that  the  Pope  is  head  of  the  church, 
they  taught  their  congregation  that  no  man  is  lo  be  in- 
jured on  account  of  his  religion,  and  that  Christianity 
knows  no  enemy.  As  by  nature  we  are  prone  to  \ 
of  every  kind,  and  that  the  earliest  impressions  are  ue 
strongest,  had  it  not  been  for  those  principles  wii-  h 
they  instilled  into  the  minds  of  their  hearers,  long  be- 


338  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

fore  now  jour  landed  proprietors  in  this  country  would 
have  treated  you  as  Turks,  who  think  it  no  scruple  to 
violate  the  beds  of  the  Jews,  and  warn  the  husbands 
that  if  they  come  into  their  houses  whilst  they  are  doing 
them  this  injustice,  they  will  cut  off  their  heads. 

Is  it  then  to  gentlemen  of  this  description,  the  chil- 
dren of  the  first  families  in  the  kingdom,  the  instructors 
of  the  most  powerful  part  of  the  community,  the  most 
moral  and  edifying  amongst  them,  the  most  charitable 
and  humane,  that  a  handful  of  poor  men  are  to  prescribe 
laws,  tending  to  diminish  the  support  of  their  offspring, 
destined  to  (ill  one  day  the  most  important  offices  in  the 
State?  What !  a  Rev.  Arcdeacon  Corker,  a  Rev.  Arch- 
deacon Tisdall,  a  Rev.  Mr.  Chetwood,  a  Rev.  Mr. 
Weekes,  a  Rev.  Mr.  Meade,  a  Rev.  Mr.  Kenny,  who 
spent  his  time  and  fortune  amongst  you,  relieving  your 
wants,  and  changing  part  of  his  house  into  an  apothe- 
cary's shop  to  supply  you  with  medicines,  which  your- 
selves could  not  purchase,  mustfrom  an  apprehension  of 
violence  quit  his  house,  at  the  threshold  of  which  ap- 
peared so  many  Lazarus's  with  their  sores  not  licked  by 
his  dogs,  but  fomented  or  bathed  with  his  own  hands  ; 
not  desiring  to  be  fed  with  the  crumbs  that  fell  from  his 
table,  but  replenished  to  satiate  with  his  own  fare  !  Ma- 
ny more  of  these  Gentlemen  could  I  mention,  and  I  ask 
yourselves  whether  you  would  benefit  the  more  by  hav- 
ing their  property  curtailed  ?  Still  1  know  that  you  are 
oppressed  and  impoverished  more  than  any  set  of  the 
lower  classes  of  people  on  earth.  And  by  that  notice 
you  have  posted  up,  it  appears  that  it  is  far  from  your 
thoughts  to  overturn  what  is  established  by  law,  but 
lighten  the  bnrthen.  It  is  not  in  the  tithes  themselves 
that  the  oppression  lies,  but  in  the  manner  of  raising 
their  value,  and  collecting  them.  The  established  cler- 
gy themselves,  whose  dignity  and  functions  do  not  per- 
mit them  to  take  on  themselves  the  disagreeable  office, 
and  who,  on  the  other  hand,  if  they  took  your  notes, 
which  perhaps  you  would  be  unwilling  or  unable  to 
pay  when  they  would  become  due,  would  feel  too 
much  in  being  obliged  to  sue  a  set  of  poor  people  in  a 
Court  of  Justice.  The  established  Clergy  themselves, 
I  say,  are  perplexed  :  they  are  not  inclined  to  oppress 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACT3.  339 

you  on  one  hand,  and  none  can  expect  that  they  will 
part  with  their  rights  on  the  other.  And  as  for  your 
parts,  you  cannot  be  judges  in  your  own  cause.  The 
supreme  power  of  the  state  alone  is  competent  to  de- 
termine the  mode  of  redress,  which  is  too  intricate  a 
matter  for  me  to  determine.  It  is  doubtless  the  interest 
of  your  landlords  not  to  have  a  wretched  and  beggarly 
tenantry.  It  is  in  like  manner  their  interest  to  support 
amongst  their  tenants  a  due  subordination  to  their  re- 
spective Pastors.  For  the  generality  of  mankind,  can 
have  no  other  rule,  but  their  instruction,  whereby  to  re- 
gulate their  moral  conduct.  The  impressions  of  religion, 
and  the  dread  of  an  invisible  Judge,  the  conscious  wit- 
ness of  our  actions,  are  stronger  than  the  terror  of  human 
laws,  which  are  often  eluded  by  privacy  and  several 
other  ways;  and  when  once  we  shake  off  the  authority  of 
religion,  when  opportunity  offers,  we  are  ready  to  shake 
off  the  authority  of  our  masters.  Present  a  memorial  of 
whatever  grievances  you  suffer  to  your  respective  land- 
lords, who,  I  should  hope,  will  transmit  it  to  their  friends 
in  Parliament:  if  Parliament  cannot  strike  out  a  plan, 
you  have  no  remedy  whatever  but  that  patience,  which  I 
before  recommended  to  you,  and  which  softens  the  afflic- 
tions of  sufferers.  In  a  word,  without  the  interposition  of 
the  supreme  power  of  the  state,  you  must  either  bear  with 
patience  the  grievances  of  which  you  complain,  or  suffer 
an  ignominious  death,  or  seek  for  a  better  situation  in  re- 
mote countries,  where  there  is  more  encouragement,  and 
where  thousands  of  your  Protestant  fellow-  subjects,  less 
oppressed  than  you  are,  have  taken  shelter. 

As  to  the  regulations  you  have  made  with  regard  to 
the  dues  of  your  own  clergy,  it  is  a  standing  maxim 
with  all  States  where  there  are  several  religions,  and  but 
one  established  by  law,  not  to  grant  any  legal  redress  for 
non-payment  of  dues  but  to  the  clergy  of  the  established 
religion,  such  as  the  clergy  of  the  church  of  England 
here  and  in  England,  the  Lutheran  clergy  in  Sweden, 
and  the  Presbyterian  clergy  in  Holland,  Geneva,  and 
elsewhere.  Free  toleration  of  religion,  and  the  volun- 
tary contributions  of  those  of  their  own  profession,  are 
the  only  resources  of  the  clergy  who  are  not  of  the  re- 
ligion of  the  state  :    I  consider  it  your  duty,  nay  your 


340  MISCELLANEOUS   TRACTS. 

interest,  to  support  them  in  a  decent  manner  according 
to  your  abilities;  and  this  support  should  appear  to  you 
the  jess  burthensome,  as  there  is  no  compulsion,  which  in 
general  makes  the  receiver  disagreeable  to  those  who  give 
when  compelled,  and  deprive  the  giver  of  the  merit,  of 
what  he  contributes,  when  he  contributes  more  from 
compulsion  than  from  duty  and  charity.  On  this  head 
then,  we  can  literally  apply  to  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  m 
his  second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  chap. 9.  Every  man 
according  us  he  purposetk  in  his  heart,  so  Let  him  give;  not 
grudgingly,  or  oj  necessity :  for  God  lovetha  cheerful  giver. 
Christ  himself,  who  in  every  page  of  the  Scriptures 
preached  up  the  renunciation  of  ourselves,  still  declares 
that  the  iaboureris  worthy  of  his  hire.  And  St.  Paul,  the 
patron  of  disinterestedness  and  mortification,  declares, 
thai  those  who  serve  the  altar,  should  live  by  it,  and  that 
such  as  feed  the  flock,  are  entitled  to  a  share  of  the  milk. 
It  is  your  own  interest  that  jour  Pastors  be  maintained 
with  decency;  that  in  a  country  where  Gentlemen  of  a 
different  religion  esteem  the  Catholic  Clergy  more  for 
their  outward  appearance  and  conduct,  than  for  their 
profession,  your  Pastors  should  appear  with  decency  ; 
and  that  in  country  parishes  where  even  in  the  dead  of 
the  nigh  t,  they  are  obliged  to  go  seven  or  eigh  t  miles,  and 
perhapsmore,  to  relieve  a  dying  person,  they  should  have 
a  horse,  in  order  to  be  able  to  give  you  every  assistance 
with  the  utmost  expedition  in  these  pressing  moments, 
when  (if  ever)  delays  are  the  most  dangerous. 

Nor,  my  brethren,  should  you  disregard  my  remarks 
on  this  subject,  because  1  am  a  Clergyman:  you  know 
that  for  the  space  of  fifteen  years  since  my  arrival  in  this 
country,  weddings  and  baptisms  are  quite  out  of  my 
line,  yet  I  never  ceased  to  exhort  and  instruct  you  to 
the  utmost  of  my  abilities. 

My  brethren,  I  earnestly  entreat  you  to  follow  the 
advice  of  those  who  wish  you  well,  who  have  your  in- 
terest at  heart,  who  foresee  the  danger  that  threatens 
you,  and  of  which  you  are  not  sufficiently  aware:  you 
will  find  the  advantage  of  p;  ace  ,md  tranquillity  ;  none 
can  w  ish  it  with  more  sincerity,  than  your  affectionate 
servant,  A.  O'LEARY. 

Cork,  Feb.  18,  1786. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  34 1 


Rev.  Mr.  O'Learifs  Second  Address  to  the  Common  People 
of  Ireland,  particularly  to  such  of  them  as 
are  called  H'luteboi/s. 

BRETHREN  AND  COUNTRYMEN, 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  oppose  (were  it  in  my  power) 
the  redress  of  your  grievances  ;  but,  \  repeat  it,  by  your 
manner  0f  redressing  them,  the  remedy  is  worse  than  the 
disorder.  I  would  rather  pay  my  tithes,  let  them  be  ever 
so  oppressive,  than  put  my  neck  in  the  halter  by  dis- 
turbing the  peace  of  society,  and  violating  the  laws  of 
the  realm,  let  them  be  ever  so  severe.  No  rulers  on 
earth  will  permit  any  order  of  men  to  overturn  estab- 
lished laws,  by  private  authority.  They  will  listen  to 
the  grievances  of  the  subject,  but  they  will  reserve  to 
themselves  the  mode  of  redress.  They  can  neve  make  the 
people  happy  but  by  keeping-  them  subject  to  authority, 
and  by  making  this  subjection  as  easy  and  reconcileable 
to  them  as  the  exigencies  of  the  state  will  permit.  The 
multitude  is  too  tickle  and  inconstant  for  governing  it- 
self. St  cannot  be  happy  without  subordination  toorder 
and  authority  ;  if  it  once  strikes  out  of  the  path  of  obe- 
dience to  the  laws,  there  is  an  end  of  Government.  Trou- 
bles, dissensions,  civil  wars,  and  impunity  for  the  most 
atrocious  crimes,  must  be  the  result.  And  in  this  state 
of  convulsion,  the  man  who  complained  of  grievances  be- 
fore, under  the  ruling  powers,  will  feel  heavier  griev- 
ances from  his  neighbour,  who, unrestrained  by  law,  will 
become  his  murderer  or  oppressor.  If  we  were  prisoners 
of  war  in  an  enemy's  country,  we  are  bound  by  the  laws 
of  God  and  nations  to  behave  in  a  peaceable  manner, 
much  more  so  when  we  form  members  of  the  same  socie- 
ty, governed  by  the  same  Sovereign  and  the  same  laws, 

But  what  surprises  me  most  with  regard  to  the  notice 
you  have  posted  up,  whereby  you  caution  each  Parish- 
ioner not  to  give  but  so  much  for  Tithes,  and  so  much 
to  the  Roman  Catholic  Clergy,  is,  that  you  bind  your- 
selves by  oath  to  abide  by  this  regulation.    Had  you  en- 


342  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

tered  into  a  resolution  not  to  pay  but  four  shillings  tithes 
for  every  acre  of  potatos,  &c.  a  court  of  justice  would 
determine  whether  you  were  right  or  wrong.  And  in 
case  you  were  cast  at  law,  as  in  all  appearance  you  would 
be,  the  payment  of  the  tithes,  and  the  costs  of  the  suit, 
would  be  the  onlydisadvantage  you  would  labour  under. 
But  here,  by  one  oath,  you  fall  into  a  double  snare  :  You 
perplex  and  entangle  your  consciences  on  one  hand,  and 
on  the  other  you  put  yourselves  in  the  power  of  the  law. 
Upon  a  former  occasion  I  explained  to  you  the  nature 
of  oaths,  and  the  horror  of  perjury.  And  although  you 
have  not  perjured  yourselves  in  swearing  to  your  own 
resolutions,  as  it  was  not  to  a  lie  you  swore,  yet  permit 
me  to  tell  you,  that  your  oath  was  rash,  and  so  far  a  pro- 
fanation of  the  most  sacred  name  of  God.  It  is  with  the 
greatest  reluctance  a  man  should  swear  at  all,  even  in  a 
just  cause,  and  from  conviction.  "We  read  in  some  Jewish 
authors,  that  the  awful  name  of  the  Divinity  was  uttered 
but  once  a  year  by  the  High  Priest,  at  the  solemn  Bene- 
diction, after  purifying  himself,  and  washing  his  hands 
in  the  blood  of  the  victim  that  was  offered  up,  before  he 
entered  the  sanctuary.  The  veneration  also  of  the  Hea- 
thens for  their  false  Gods,  was  such,  that  in  the  begin- 
ing  no  oaths  were  customary,  from  a  reverence  to  the 
Deity.  Princes  ratified  the  most  solemn  treaties  by  join- 
ing hands:  and  in  the  ages  of  heroism,  the  warrior 
thought  himself  sufficiently  engaged  to  his  General  by 
looking  at  the  military  standard  erected  upon  an  emi- 
nence, with  the  image  of  the  tutelary  God  painted  on 
the  banners.  Such  was  the  veneration  of  all  nations  for 
the  awful  name  of  the  Deity,  and  the  sanctity  of  that 
maxim  of  holy  writ,  that  we  are  not  to  trifle  with  holy 
things.  Compare  your  conduct  with  that  of  the  primi- 
tive inhabitants  of  the  world,  you  who  should  be  struck 
with  a  greater  awe  as  having  a  more  perfect  knowledge 
of  the  true  God,  and  yet  make  it  a  part  of  your  Sunday's 
devotion  to  hand  the  book  to  each  other  in  order  to  swear 
to  what  must  be  destructive  to  yourselves,  and  injurious 
to  the  rights  of  others — you  will  swear  to  the  Lord  your 
God,  says  the  Scripture,  in  truth,  in  judgment,  and  in 
righteousness,  or  justice.  It  is  not  sufficient  for  the  lawful- 
ness of  an  oath,  that  whatever  we  swear  to  be  true.     It 


\ 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS'.  343 


requires  moreover  that  the  oath  be  attended  with  judg- 
ment, that  is  to  say,  that  the  object  of  it  be  not  rash ; 
there  must  be  necessity  and  prudence.  There  must  be 
also  justice,  otherwise  the  name  of  God  is  profaned,  and 
the  oath  is  not  binding.  When  Herod  swore  that  he 
would  give  his  daughter  whatever  she  would  ask  him, 
he  was  guilty  of  murder  in  giving  her  the  head  of  John 
the  Baptist,  and  of  profanation  in  calling  on  God  as  the 
witness  and  sanction  of  his  cruelty.  You  swear  that  you, 
will  pay  but  four  shillings  for  an  acre  of  potatos,  &c. 

When  St.  Augustine  lays  down  as  a  maxim  that  the 
laws  of  every  state  regulate  the  property  of  the  subject, 
and  that  whatever  we  possess  must  be  in  consequence  of 
the  determination  of  the  law  ;  when  St.  Paul  commands 
us  to  pay  honour  to  whom  honour,  and  tribute  to  whom 
tribute  is  due,  can  the  most  learned  Casuist  determine 
that  you  are  bound  to  pay  no  more  than  the  precise  sum 
of  four  shillings  for  an  acre?  Your  oath  then  is  the  same 
thing  as  if  you  swore  in  the  following  manner:  I  swear 
by  this  book  that  I  will  do  such  a  thing,  whether  it  be  right 
or  wrong.  Is  such  an  oath  just  ?  In  lille  manner  let  me  sup- 
pose that  after  this  oath,  you  may  be  sued  at  law  for  the 
tithes,  and  for  non-payment  be  cast  into  prison,  or  have 
your  little  property  distrained.  What  will  be  the  con- 
sequence ?  You  must  either  break  your  oath,  or  remain 
in  prison,  or  have  your  poor  families  ruined.  Thus  your 
oath  is  the  same  as  if  it  were  as  follows  :  /  swear  by  this 
book,  that  I  will  either  break  this  oath,  or  rot  in  prison,  or 
ruin  my  family .  Is  there  judgment,  is  there  prudence  in 
this  ?  Add  to  this,  that  such  persons  as  tender  such  oaths 
are  in  the  power  of  the  law,  and  will  be  treated  with  the 
utmost  rigour.  And  on  this  occasion,  I  conjure  the  Gen- 
tlemen of  this  country  who  may  read  this  letter,  and  be 
next  Assizes  on  your  Jury,  to  distinguish  the  wanton 
compellersof  such  oaths,  and  the  persons  who  take  or 
administer  them  from  fear  or  compulsion.  I  say,  take 
or  administer  them ;  for,  take  and  administer  in  the 
sense  I  allude  to,  are  synonimous  in  the  eyes  of  hu- 
manity and  justice,  when  the  motive,  I  mean  for  fear  of 
grievous  outrage  to  their  persons  or  property,  compels 
them  to  take  the  oath,  or  administer  to  others.     And 

Y  Y 


314 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 


when  I  make  this  request,  you  see,  my  brethren,  how 
much  I  have  your  interest  at  heart,  and  with  what  sin- 
cerity I  wish  to  prevent  the  effusion  of  your  blood. 

The  same  motives  induced  a  Protestant  Gentleman, 
an  acquaintance  of  mine,  to  address  six  letters  to  you, 
in  a  style  adapted  to  your  understanding,  under  the  sig- 
nature of  a  Dublin  Shopkeeper.  He  had  no  motive  what- 
ever but  your  welfare,  as  his  property  is  not  in  the 
county.  His  humanity  and  benevolence  alone  induced 
him  to  point  out  the  danger  to  which  you  were  exposed, 
the  imaginary  and  groundless  prospects  you  figured  to 
yourselves,  and  which  you  will  soon  see  vanish  as  smoke : 
the  various  delusions  to  which  the  unthinking  multi- 
tude are  liable  to  fall  victims,  and  the  caution  you 
should  take  against  those  misfortunes  in  which  aeon- 
duct  similar  1o  yours  has  involved  so  many  others, 
Several  of  whom  were  really  innocent.  To  deprive  his 
letters  of  the  effect  ihey  should  have  on  you,  you  were 
made  to  believe  that  they  were  written  by  some  Clergy- 
man, interested  in  'jthe  preservation  of  tithes,  or  if  a 
Roman  Catholic,  in  the  collection  of  his  dues.  I  declare 
upon  my  conscience,  that  they  were  written  by  a  Pro- 
testant Layman,  and  that  I  myself  did  not  know  the 
author,  until  after  the  publication  of  the  first  letter- 
They  deserve  your  attention  the  more  as  they  come 
from  such  a  disinterested  hand,  and  as  I  am  equally 
unconcerned  in  these  matters,  Only  as  far  as  they  re- 
gard your  own  safety,  and  the  peace  of  the  public. 

I  hope  that  this  Address  will  deserve  your  attention, 
as  it  gives  the  sanction  of  religion  to  the  maxims  of  pru- 
dence, laid  down  in  that  Gentleman's  writings.  1  am 
confident  that  many  of  you  have  been  misled  by  your 
ignorance  of  the  laws,  and  that  as  these  disturbances 
originated  in  the  dues  of  the  clergy,  you  did  not  forsee 
the  consequences  to  yourselves.  That  Gentleman's  let- 
ters deserve  your  most  serious  attention,  as  he  explains 
all  the  laws  which  hang  over  you.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  is  a  standing  maxim,  that  it  is  better  to  prevent 
crimes  than  to  punish  them.  It  would  be  an  act  of 
humanity  in  the  Associations,  compost  d  of  Noblemen 
and  Gentlemen,  for  the  suppression  of  tumults   in   the 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  345 

county  of  Cork,  to  get  numbers  of  that  Gentleman's 
letters  dispersed  gratis  through  the  country.  It  is  the 
opinion  of  a  great  and  humane  writer,*  that  every 
Member  of  Society  should  know  when  he  is  criminal, 
and  when  innocent.  This  cannot  be  done  without  a 
knowledge  of  the  laws  which  affect  the  lives  and  liber- 
ties of  the  subjects.  This  knowledge  is  never  suffici- 
ently communicated  in  this  kingdom  to  the  multitude 
at  large,  few  of  whom  can  purchase  the  ordinary  vehi- 
cles of  information,  the  Acts  ;  and  even  Newspapers,  are 
prohibited  from  even  inserting  abstracts  under  the 
penalty  of  a  prosecution  from  the  King's  Printer.  In 
foreign  countries  when  new  laws,  affecting  the  lives  of 
the  people,  are  enacted,  they  are  posted  up  on  the  gates 
of  the  Churches  in  all  the  Parishes,  and  their  non-pro- 
mulgation  is  pleaded  in  justification  of  the  fact.  This 
before-mentioned  conduct  corresponds  with  Beccaria's 
wishes,  who  says,  that  every  citizen  should  have  the 
code  of  laws  which  affect  his  life  ;  and  that  the  conduct 
of  Censors  and  Magistrates  who  punish  the  ignorant, 
is  a  kind  of  tyranny  which  surrounds  the  confines  of 
political  liberty.  If  the  laws  are  made  for  the  people, 
they  should  know  them,  and  laws  which  affect  the 
lives  of  the  multitude,  should  not  be  confined  to  the 
Lawyer's  library.  1  am  confident  that  not  one  out  of 
ten  thousand  of  the  country  people,  knows  one  clause 
of  the  Whiteboy  Act.  This  is  the  time  to  make  it  as 
public  as  possible  in  a  county  hitherto  the  most  peace- 
able in  the  kingdom.  But  to  return  from  this  digres- 
sion to  you,  my  brethren,  if  you  have  any  room  to 
claim  of  the  extortions  of  any  of  your  Clergy,  why  have 
you  not  made  application  to  your  Bishops  previous  to 
those  tumultuary  meetings?  Would  Lord  Dunboyne, 
as  distinguished  for  his  tenderness,  his  charity,  the 
sweetness  and  amiableness  of  his  manners,  as  he  is  by 
his  high  birth  and  exalted  station;  or  would  the  pious 
and  edifying  Doctor  M'Kenna  permit  the  oppression 
of  the  poor  under  pretence  of  religion  ?  They,  who 
are  more  inclined  to  relieve  your  wants  than  to  add 

*  Beccaria. 


346  MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS. 

to  them  ?  There  is  some  exaggeration  in  your  written 
notice,  insinuating  that  your  Pastors  require  more  than 
you  can  afford,  and  that  some  of  them  are  more  atten- 
tive to  your  substance  than  your  souls.  Sure,  my  bre- 
thren, a  Roman  Catholic  Clergyman,  who  in  times  of 
prosecution  would  be  bound  not  to  abandon  you,  but  to 
share  your  sufferings,  and  undergo  every  hardship  for 
the  sake  of  your  salvation;  bound  to  appear  as  the  pub- 
lic deputy  of  the  people,  at  the  foot  of  the  altar,  erected 
to  a  God,  who  died  naked  on  the  cross,  and  to  wean  your 
affections  from  the  perishable  goods  and  fleeting  plea- 
sures of  this  short  and  distracted  life,  to  fix  them  on 
Heavenly  goods  ;  sure,  no  Roman  Catholic  Clergyman 
would  make  a  traffic  of  the  Sacraments,  in  extorting 
from  an  unhappy  object,  who  has  but  fourpence  a  day 
to  support  a  wife  and  a  number  of  children,  with  a  hand- 
ful of  vegetables  and  a  draught  of  water.  We  are  rather 
bound  to  sell  the  sacred  vases  of  the  temple,  if  we  had 
any  to  dispose  of,  sooner  than  slay  the  victim,  already 
fleeced  by  oppressive  rack-rents.  It  cannot  be  conceived 
that  a  Roman  Catholic  Clergyman,  who  pays  the  least 
regard  to  the  dignity  and  decency  of  his  character, 
would  sit  down  in  a  barn  or  cabin ,  at  the  expense  of  the 
labouring  man,  and  by  intemperance,  efface  intheeven* 
ing  those  impressions  of  piety  which  he  imparted  to  him 
in  the  morning.  No,  there  is  no  such  thing.  But  there 
is  the  mistake  you  have  committed  in  the  oath  already 
mentioned.  You  have  bound  by  the  oath  the  opulent 
farmer,  who  is  able  and  willing  to  give  to  your  Pastors 
wherewithal  to  support  them,  and  to  afford  yourselves 
some  assistance  in  your  wants.  You  have  bound  him 
in  like  manner  not  to  give  any  more  than  a  crown,  &c. 
and  this  is  an  injustice  under  the  solemnity  of  an  oath. 
For,  whatever  a  poor  man  may  do  with  a  trifle  scarce 
competent  to  support  himself,  he  has  no  right  to  controul 
the  pockets  of,  or  to  prescribe  laws  to  the  rich.  If  there 
had  been  scandalous  extortions  of  the  kind,  you  should 
have  preferred  complaints  to  the  Bishops,  and  these 
venerable  Prelates  would  have  ordered  their  Clergy  to 
cry  out  from  their  Altars,  v>ith!the  Prophet  Jonas,  if  it  be 
%n  my  account  that  this  storm  is  raised  throw  me  overboard. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  &17 

The  oppression  of  the  poor,  and  the  love  of  sordid  gain, 
are  inconsistent  with  the  character  of  personswhose  min- 
istry is  the  condemnation  of  avarice,  the  contempt  of 
riches,  and  the  recommendation  of  charity.  They  are 
not  disposed  to  bruise  the  reed  already  broken,  nor  to 
change  the  tender  and  inviting  voice  of  fathers  and  pas- 
tors into  the  harsh  language  of  griping  tax-gatherers.  Has 
not  Mr.  O'Kelly,  have  not  others  declared  from  the  al- 
tars, that  they  require  no  more  from  you  than  what  you 
are  willing  to  give  ?  Let  not  then  the  sacred  ministry  be 
a  pretext  for  the  public  disturbances,  which  in  the  end 
must  prove  destructive  to  yourselves.  Let  your  griev- 
ances be  redressed  by  the  wisdom  and  humanity  of  your 
superiors  in  Church  and  State.  Let  public  tranquil- 
lity be  restored,  and  let  yourselves  enjoy  the  fruits  and 
sweets  of  a  peaceable  conduct  and  innocent  conscience, 
which  alone  can  recommend  you  to,  and  procure  you  the 
protection  of  God  and  your  rulers.  No  person  can  wish 
you  every  happiness  more  than  your  affectionate  servant, 

A.  O'LEARY. 

Cork,  Feb.  21,  1786. 


Rev.  Mr.  O'Leary's  Third  Address  to  the  Whiteboys,  par- 
ticularly those  of  the  County  of  Cork. 

Countrymen, 

To  such  of  you  as  still  persist  in  setting  the  laws  of 
your  country  at  defiance,  in  opposition  to  the  dictates 
of  prudence,  which  suggests  to  man  not  to  hazard  rashly 
his  life,  nor  the  interest  of  his  family,  but  rather  to  bear 
patiently  with  a  slighter  inconvenience  to  avoid  a 
greater;  to  such  of  you  as  still  pursue  aline  of  conduct 
(misconduct  I  should  have  said)  so  destructive  to  your- 
selves, and  subversive  of  peace  and  good  order,  I  ad- 
dress myself  at  this  critical  juncture.  For  I  shall  not  con- 
found those  who  first  engaged  in  your  cause,  either  from 
error  or  licentiousness,  and  are  now  reclaimed  to  their 
duty,  with  those  who  still  march  on  in  a  road  which,  from 
sad  experience,  they  will  find  to  end  in  a  precipice.    At 


348  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

the  first  breaking  out  of  these  unhappy  disturbances,  you 
got  every  caution  which  religion,  reason,  and  humanity 
could  prompt  men  of  compassion  and  feelings  to  give  a 
multitude  easily  misled,  and,  according  to  the  common 
course  of  human  affairs,  incapable  of  drawing  the  deli- 
cate line  to  which  common  sense  points  out,  and  of  which 
it  says,  thus  far  you  shall  go  and  no  farther.     The  dangers 
to  which  you  were  exposed  from  a  disorderly  conduct, 
the  imaginary  and  groundless  prospects  you  figured  to 
yourselves,  and  which  you  now   behold  vanishing  as 
smoke,  the  various   delusions  to  which  the  unthinking 
multitude  are  liable  to  fall  victims,  the  precaution  you 
should  take  against  the  misfortune  in  which  a  conduct 
similar  to  yours  had  involved  so  many  before.     Every 
thing,  in  short,  was  explained  to  you.  The  maxims  of  hu- 
man prudence  were  strengthened,  and  enforced  by  the 
great  principles  of  religion  :  and  we  had  every  room  to 
expect,  that  in  case  religion  had  lost  its  influence  over 
you  as  christians,  at  least  your  own  preservation,  as  men, 
founded  upon  the  first  principles  of  nature,  would  in- 
duce you  to  expose  your  bodies  to  the  rod  of  justice,  or 
to  the  executioner's  hand.     W  hen  you  imagined  your- 
selves secure  in  your  numbers,  an  anticipated  list  was 
made  out  of  so  many  Whiteboys  whipped,  so  many  shot 
by  the  army,  so  many  \Y  hiteboys'  widows  and  orphans 
reduced  to  beggary,  from  the  misconduct  of  thejr  former 
husbands  and  fathers.     There  was  no  inspiration  requi- 
site, in  order  to  foretel  such  future  events:  foresight  and 
sense  uttered  a  prophesy  which  you  see  now  fulfilled,  and 
theaccomplishment  whereof  you  can  readon  the  mangled 
backs  of  the  companions  of  your  former  excursions.     If 
you  are  wise  then,  return  peaceably  and  without  delay  to 
your  occupation  and  duty,  and  do  not  swell  the  cata- 
logue of  suffering  offenders  :  it  is  the  advice  of  one  who 
has  your  welfare  at  heart  ;    who,  whilst  he  reprobates 
your  disorders,  pities  your   weakness,  and  who,  in  ac- 
knowledging the  justice  of  the  punishment  inflicted  for 
the  crime,  commiserates  the  man  in  the  criminal. 

But  what  will  my  pity  avail,  if  you  do  not  pity  your- 
selves? How,  or  by  what  arguments  to  reclaim  you,  I  am 
at  a  loss.  I  shall  howeverpay  this  last  tribute  to  humani- 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  349 

ty,  and  follow  the  advice  of  the  Apostle  who  commands 
Ministers  of  the  Gospel  to  rebuke,  reprove,  exhort  the  sin- 
ner. To  be  instant  in  season,  and  out  of  season.  If  my  en- 
deavours should  chance  to  be  out  of  season  with  regard  to 
the  obstinate,  yet  they  may  be  in  season  with  regard  to 
those  whom  1  would  fain  preserve  from  the  contagion  of 
your  pernicious  example.  I  reclaimed  some  of  your 
associates  before,  who  now  feel  the  comfort  of  having 
returned  to  the  path  of  peace  and  good  order.  Happy 
for  you,  though  late,  if  you  copied  after  them.  To  at- 
tempt to  reclaim  you  by  the  power  and  influence  of  re- 
ligion would,  I  am  afraid,  be  an  useless  task.  You  have 
thrown  off  its  restraint.  And  however  orderly  a  well 
bred  Deist  who  does  not  feel  distress,  but  laughs  at  re- 
ligion, may  conduct  himself  through  life  until  the  scene 
of  delusion  is  closed,  and  death  introduces  him  to  the 
Judge,  who  says,  Woe  to  you  who  laugh,  &c.  When  the 
common  people  in  any  state  throw  off  the  restraint  of 
religion,  or  become  fanatics,  they  may  like  lions  un- 
chained, who,  if  not  opposed  by  force  or  stratagem,  will 
devour  their  defenceless  prey.  Of  this  we  have  unhap- 
py proofs  in  the  disturbances  which  have  disgraced  this 
province.  When  you  minded  your  religion,  grace  and 
order  reigned  over  the  land.  The  w7eary  cottager,  after 
his  labour  and  rural  meal,  slept  secure,  and  acquired 
fresh  strength  for  the  toils  of  the  ensuing  day  ;  and  if  the 
neighbour  was  injured  in  his  property  by  stealth  and 
fraud,  the  dread  of  profaning  the  Sacraments  was  at- 
tended with  restitution,  and  the  purpose  of  amendment. 
But  when,  to  the  astonishment  and  scandal  of  the  pub- 
lic, religion  became  a  sport ;  when  the  houses  of  worship 
were  profaned  by  the  tumultuary  meetings,  beginning 
their  devotions  with  the  solemnity  of  combination  oaths, 
without  inquiring  whether  they  were  lawful  or  sacrile- 
gious; when  the  flocks  became  deaf  to  the  instructions 
of  the  pastors, dictating  instead  of  obeying,  and  did  with 
their  own  hands,  what  the  most  infamous  Priest-catchers 
refrained  from  doing  in  times  of  persecution,  I  mean  the 
nailing  up  of  Chapels,  and  excluding  from  the  house  of 
God  such  as  intended  to  offer  up  their  prayers  on  that 
day  appointed  by  all  denominations  of  Christians  for 


350  MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS. 

the  worship  of  the  Supreme  Being,  and  held  so  sacred, 
that  on  that  day  the  very  administration  of  civil  justice 
is  suspended  ;  when  without  any  intention  to  exchange 
the  creed  for  another,  but  rather  get  rid  of  both,  nor 
any  intention  to  reform  the  morals,  but  rather  to  obtain 
impunity  for  licentiousness,  you  flocked  to  the  Pro- 
testant churches,  as  the  temples  in  former  times  were 
resorted  to  by  those  malefactors  who  intended  to  make 
of  the  house  of  God  a  rampart  againt  the  pursuit  of 
violated  justice  ;  when  this  irreligious  farce  was  at- 
tended with  the  notes  of  the  flute,  and  the  blasts  of  the 
bagpipe  playing  from  one  house  of  worship  into  an- 
other, a  set  of  men  combined  against  the  clergy  of  both, 
threatening  with  destruction  the  respectable  Catholics 
who  refused  to  attend  the  procession  of  disorder  in 
tumult. 

In  short,  when  religion  lost  its  hold  of  people  accus- 
tomed to  revere  and  respect  it,  then  the  most  peaceable 
county  of  the  kingdom  became  a  scene  of  anarchy, 
disorder,  and  confusion,  and  spread  the  contagion  far 
and  wide  ;  a  brutal  and  indiscriminate  vengeance  was 
wreaked  upon  man  and  beast :  and  the  excesses  of  the 
mad  rabble  who  acknowledged  Lord  George  Gordon  for 
their  President  in  the  year  eighty,  have  been  in  some 
measure  copied  by  the  followers  of  Captain  Right  in  the 
year  eighty-six  ;  the  former  burnt  houses,  and  commit- 
ted singing  birds  to  the  flames  ;  the  latter  cropped 
horses,  and  burnt  ricks  of  corn. — 0  foolish  Galalians? 
says  St.  Paul,  what  hath  bewitched  you? 

If  you  complained  of  grievances,  was  redress  to  be 
obtained  by  profanation,  and  inhuman  and  barbarous 
steps,  which  tend  to  defeat  the  very  end  you  propose  to 
yourselves,  and  to  make  you  rather  objects  of  detesta- 
tion than  pity  ?  When  you  complained  of  the  conduct 
of  some  of  your  own  clergymen,  as  overbearing  and 
rigorous  ;  to  remove  every  plea  for  disorder  and  dis- 
content, your  prelates  assembled,  and  after  declaring 
that  a  small  stipend,  the  reasonableness  of  which  they 
left  to  the  decision  of  the  public,  was  requisite  for  the 
support  of  your  pastors;  they  enjoined  them  at  the 
same  time  not  to  enforce  a  rigorous  exaction  of  their 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 


351 


dues,  but  to  shew,  upon  all  occasions,  that  spirit  of  mildness, 
lenity,  and  disinterestedness,  so  becoming  their  sacred  cha- 
racter. What  more  could  they  have  done  ?  You,  on  the 
other  hand,  not  only  bound  yourselves  by  oath  to  withhold 
your  usual  support,  but  controul  the  opulent  and  well-dis- 
posed, who  were  willing  and  able  to  make  up  for  what 
yourselves  were  unwilling  and  unable  to  give.  Thus,  under 
pretence  of  redressing  grievances,  you  became  the  oppres- 
sors of  your  spiritual  guides,  and  as  to  your  causes  of  com- 
plaint from  proctors  and  tithe-farmers,  instead  of  waiting  for 
that  relief  which  the  humanity  and  wisdom  of  the  Parliament 
may  in  time  and  place  suggest,  you  have  arrogated  to  your- 
selves a  power  bordering  upon  life  and  death,  by  burying 
them  up  to  their  chins  in  graves,  lined  with  briars  and  other 
materials  of  torture,  leaving  their  life  or  destruction  to 
the  bare  chance  of  being  found  or  not  found,  by  some  pas- 
senger. Great  God  !  could  you  be  so  divested  of  feeling  as 
to  inflict  such  a  punishment,  or  so  devoid  of  common  sense 
as  to  imagine  that  such  a  conduct  was  the  best  method  of 
deserving  the  attention  and  compassion  of  your  rulers  ?  The 
public  considered  these  horrid  barbarities  as  the  effects  of  a 
temporary  madness,  which  cool  reason  and  the  severity  of 
the  law  would  effectually  cure.  But  what  must  not  be  their 
indignation  and  astonishment,  if,  after  the  steps  which  Go- 
vernment has  taken,  they  see  you  not  only  relapse  into  your 
former  frenzy,  but  work  yourselves  up  to  the  highest  pitch 
of  madness  ! 

After  reforming  the  clergy,  you  now  proceed  to  reform 
the  state.  By  your  new  regulations,  no  labouring  man  is  to 
go  to  another  parish  to  save  the  harvest.  This  certainly 
shews  your  humanity  and  wisdom,  on  the  eve  of  the  severe 
winter,  where  every  hand  should  be  employed  to  secure  the 
bounties  of  nature — and  this  I  call  a  regulation  of  beggary 
and  imprisonment.  For  the  landlord  will  have  his  rent  or 
your  bodies,  and  if  you  refuse  to  work  you  must  beg  ;  and 
the  public  will  give  no  alms  to  persons  who  become  idlers 
from  wilful  obstinacy. 

You  write  threatening  letters  to  the  Civil  Magistrate,  or- 
dering him,  under  the  severest  penalties,  to  interfere  no 
more  in  your  proceedings, and  are  come  to  resolves  about  the 

7.  z 


352  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

hearth-money,  which  you  intend  to  regulate  by  your  owe 
standard ;    and    this    regulation     about    magistrates    and 
hearth-money,  as  more  immediately  affecting  Majesty,  is  a 
regulation  bordering  upon  treason  or  rebellion,   and   appro 
priating  to  yourselves  a  part  of  the  revenues  of  the  crown. 
To  crown  the  work,  you  posted  up  a  notice,  or  you  wrote 
a  menacing  letter  to  a  most  respectable  Protestant  clergy- 
man, ordering  him  not  to  meddle  with  an  old  church  in  his 
parish,  the  materials  of  which  are    requisite  to  defray  the 
expenses  incurred  by  building  a  new  one,  but  to  leave  it  to 
you  for  a  chapel.     And  this  regulation,   to  me,  is  a  regula- 
tion of  surprise  and  astonishment.     What  a  surprising  tran- 
sition from  profanation   to  devotion,  from  one  extreme   to 
another !     Some  time  before  you  nailed  up  the  chapels,  and 
would  not  permit  your  clergy  to  officiate   therein.     Now 
your  own  chapels  will  not  suffice  without  having  the  church  : 
not  long  since  you  carried  the  chapel    to   church  ;   now  you 
will  have  the  church  come  back   to    the  chapel.     This  is  a 
strange  fit  of  devotion  in  a  set  of  men  who,  not  long  ago, 
in  derision  of  priesthood,  gave   but  an    Irish  crown  to  the 
pastor,  at  a  wedding,  and  collected  eighteen  shillings  for  the 
piper  :  but  pray,  if  you  obtain  the  church,   who  will  be  your 
chaplain  ?     For  1  am  sure  no  Roman   Catholic  clergyman 
will  be  so  mad  as  to  obtrude  into  a  church,  of  the  established 
religion,  under   the  banners  of  sedition.     You   must  then 
ordain  a  chaplain  yourselves ;  and    every    person   who  at- 
tempts a  reformation  in  the  church  and    state,  without  an 
ordinary  mission,  commonly  pleads  a  mission  from  Heaven. 
Captain  Right  may  assume  the  power  of  ordination,   as  the 
German  cobbler,  who  attempted  the  reformation  of  religion, 
pretended  to  impart  the  gift  of  prophecy  to  his  disciples,  by 
making  them  drink  a  pot  of  beer,   and    giving  them  on  the 
head  a  stroke  of  a  poker. 

However,  as  this  extraordinary  message,  purporting  to 
give  up  a  Protestant  church  to  be  changed  into  a  chapel,  is 
become  the  general  subject  of  conversation,  it  is  incumbent 
on  me  to  make  my  remarks  on  it.  I  have  read  so  many 
anecdotes  of  plots  and  roguish  schemes,  of  which  simpletons 
were  the  tools,  and  knaves  the  contrivers,  that  I  am  very 
©autious.    It  is  supposed  that  when  you  meet  in  your  lurking 


MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS.  353 

holes,  you  all  agree  in  the  same  measure,  and  that  every  de- 
liberation is  the  act  of  the  whole  corps,  otherwise  you  woukl 
soon  disperse.  If  then  this  message  be  really  an  act  of your 
meeting,  some  artful  incendiary,  capable  of  working  upon 
your  intellects,  stupified  by  watching  and  intoxication,  has 
crept  in  among  you,  either  to  cause  some  confusion  in  the 
state,  from  motives  best  known  (if  not  to  himself)  certainly  to 
his  employer,  or  from  an  expectation  of  obtaining  a  rewaid 
for  swearing  away  your  lives  at  the  next  assizes.  For  there 
is  not  the  least  shadow  of  probability,  that  a  set  oi  night- 
strollers,  cropping  cattle  and  burning  corn,  after  nailing  up 
chapels  and  humbling  their  clergy,  would  expose  themselves 
to  martyrdom  in  forcing  a  Protestant  clergyman  to  give  up 
a  church,  to  indulge  a  devotion.  Moreover,  you  know  that 
when  a  new  place  of  worship  is  to  be  erected,  the  Parish 
Priest  is  always  consulted  ;  for  where  there  is  no  Mass, 
there  is  an  end  of  the  chapel.  You  know  full  well  that  no 
Priest  would  attend  you  in  such  a  fit  of  frantic  devotion,  if 
you  did  not  force  him  to  ride  bare-backed,  Proctor-like,  on 
Captain  Right's  grey  horse,  with  the  furze  saddle  under 
him,  and  the  horn  sounding  before  him.  Give  up  then  every 
thought  of  changing  the  church  into  a  chapel,  for  you  will 
never  get  any  Priest  to  attend  you  there,  without  you  drive 
him  before  you  mounted,  as  1  mentioned;  and  I  am  sure  that 
the  most  ambitious  of  the  clergy  would  not  ride  the  Pope's 
mule  in  such  an  equipage.  The  message  then,  if  it  comes 
from  you,  is  of  a  piece  with  the  rest  of  your  proceedings,  as 
far  as  they  are  barely  confined  to  nonsense;  and  if  the 
churches  and  chapels  were  the  anti-chambers  of  Heaven, 
they  could  never  procure  admittance  into  its  inner  apart- 
ments, whilst  you  lead  a  loose  and  licentious  life,  destroying 
your  neighbour's  property,  and  disturbing  the  peace  of  so- 
ciety. However,  if  you  want  to  see  the  inside  of  that 
church,  you  shall  be  gratified  on  the  following  condition : — 
Appoint  what  Sunday  you  think  fit,  and  that  at  soonest, 
and  I  shall  go  and  meet  you  there,  not  to  say  mass,  but  to 
give  you  an  exhortation,  or  a  sermon,  which  ever  you  like. 
Colonel  Mannix,  or  any  of  the  neighbouring  Magistrates  will, 
I  am  confident,  not  refuse  to  attend ;  after  the  exhortalion 
of  which  you  certainly  stand  in  need,  the  Magistrate  will 


354  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

explain  the  law  to  you,  listen  to  jour  complaints,  and  if  you 
make  a  solemn  promise,  which  you  can  without  any  remorse, 
confirm  with  an  oath,  to  return  peaceably  to  your  duty,  and 
to  disturb  no  longer  the  community,  he  will  transmit  your 
complaints  to  your  Representatives  in  Parliament.  A  simi- 
lar affair  happened  already,  and  has  been  attended  with 
success,  for  the  people,  on  listening  to  reason,  returned  to 
the  path  of  moderation  and  good  conduct :  all  this  is  to  be 
done  with  the  consent  of  the  gentleman  to  whom  the  old 
church  belongs,  for  you  know  that  it  is  not  civil  to  force  into 
another  man's  house.  The  pastor  of  that  church  is  a  sted- 
fast  Protestant,  and  I  am  a  stedfast  Roman  Catholic, 
believing  seven  sacraments,  and  every  article  that  has  been 
explained  to  you  in  your  early  days  in  your  catechism.  Yet 
we  are  both  united  in  the  same  cause  of  charity  and  benevo- 
lence with  several  other  gentlemen  of  different  persuasions, 
as  Members  of  the  Committee  for  the  Relief  of  Insolvent 
Debtors. 

Our  controversies  turn  upon  the  ways  and  means  of 
keeping  order  and  cleanliness  in  the  gaols,  of  procuring 
the  captive  debtors  a  weekly  allowance,  of  compounding 
with  their  creditors,  and  restoring  them  to  their  poor  families. 
The  very  Magistrates  who  you  threaten  are  subscribers 
to  this  institution :  on  the  list  of  the  relieved  captives 
are  numbers  of  your  own  namesakes  and  relations.  This 
digression  1  make  in  order  to  remind  you  of  your  ingra- 
titude and  delusion  in  meddling  with  the  clergy  of  the 
established  religion,  many  of  whom  deserve  so  well  of 
the  poor ;  but  that  gentleman  in  particular,  the  martyr  of 
charity,  who  bestows  on  them  the  portion  of  time  and 
substance  which  he  can  spare  from  his  functions  and 
family.  The  proposal  of  meeting  1  make  from  my  heart ; 
the  subject  of  my  sermon  shall  be  the  obligations  which  na- 
ture and  religion  impose  on  man  to  live  peaceably  and  ho- 
nestly, both  as  a  Christian  and  a  member  of  civil  society,  and 
my  text  shall  be  these  words  of  St.  Paul,  /  exhort  therefore  that 
prayer  and  supplication  be  made  for  kings,  and  for  all  that  are  in 
authority,  that  we  may  lead  a  quiet  and  peaceable  life  in  all  God- 
liness and  honesty.  1  Tim.  c.  2.  May  you  conform  your  lives 
to  the  text !  Amen.  But  to  return  to  the  notice,  or  message ; 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  355 

It  is  most  likely  that  some  one  who  would  not  much  scru- 
ple to  tell  a  lie  at  the  expense  of  your  lives,  has  written  the 
letter  in  your  name,  or  posted  up  the  notice,  to  make  you 
more  odious  than  you  are,  (though  you  are  odious  enough 
already,)  and  to  hasten  the  vengeance  of  the  laws  which 
await  you,  by  quickening  the  fears  of  the  public.  Every 
robbery  and  plunder  will  be  laid  to  your  charge,  several  se- 
ditious letters  will  be  written  in  your  names,  and  divine  jus- 
tice will  permit  that  even  the  malice  of  others  will  hasten 
to  your  ruin.  And  however  I  hate  your  proceedings,  I  really 
pity  your  madness  in  putting  it  in  their  power;  and  the  more 
so,  as,  according  to  St.  Augustine,  no  wretch  is  more  to  be 
pitied  than  the  wretch  who  does  not  pity  himself.  One 
should  think,  that  more  than  a  twelvemonth's  apprenticeship 
to  licentiousness,  besides  the  losses  you  have  sustained, 
would  have  tired  you  in  the  road  of  iniquity;  and  little  did 
we  expect  to  hear  any  more  of  cropping  horses  and  burning 
corn,  much  less  depriving  the  cottager  of  the;  use  of  his 
spade  amidst  the  invitations  of  a  copious  harvest.  Little 
did  we  expect  to  hear  of  attempts  to  deprive  the  landlords 
of  their  rent,  to  encroach  upon  the  authority  of  Parliament, 
and  to  invade  the  risfhts  of  the  Crown,  bv  arrosratino:  to 
yourselves  the  power  ot  regulating  the  taxes  of  the  state, 
after  two  assizes,  and  the  lenity,  impartiality  and  wisdom 
which  Government  has  shewn  upon  the  occasion;  for  what 
greater  proofs  of  them  could  Government  have  given,  than 
when  the  energy  of  the  laws  was  to  be  supported  by  the 
military  power,  it  appointed  a  General  who  unites  humanity 
with  valour,  who  condescended  to  appear  in  your  complaints, 
prevailed  on  several  gentlemen  concerned  in  tithes  to  re- 
duce to  the  most  reasonable  standard  ;  copied  after  that  illus- 
trious Roman,  who,  when  the  common  people  had  thrown 
off  the  yoke  of  subordination,  kept  the  sword  in  the  sheath, 
and  held  out  the  olive  branch,  preferring  in  the  first  stajre  of 
the  political  distemper,  lenient  to  violent  remedies :  a  Ge- 
neral, in  fine,  who,  on  hearing  well-grounded  complaints, 
would  forget  the  warrior  in  the  advocate  of  the  distressed, 
if  the  complainers  ceased  to  be  licentious. 

In  the  delicate  circumstances  which  affected  your  lives, 
Government   appointed   a  judge,   endowed  with  extensive 


356  MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS. 

knowledge,  penetration,  and  wisdom,  which  qualify  him  so 
eminently  tor  holding  the  scale  in  which  the  lives,  the  for- 
tune, and  the  honour  of  men  are  to  be  weighed;  with  inte- 
grity, proof  against  the  attacks  of  power  and  interest,  with 
humanity  and  moderation,  which  without  loosening  the  veil 
wherewith  justice  is  painted  hoodwinked,  can  raise  its  bor- 
der to  cast  a  glance  of  pity  on  the  unfortunate  :  such  were 
the  two  illustrious  personages  in  whose  handb  Government 
lodged  the  sword  of  military  power  and  justice,  to  sup- 
press the  disorders  to  which  you  have  given  rise.  I  mean 
Lord  Luttrell  and  Lord  Chief  Baron  Yelverton.  Wisdom  and 
impartiality  made  a  choice  which  humanity  applauded  ;  but 
a  longer  continuance  of  your  madness  and  folly  must  baffle 
their  united  eflbns,  to  your  own  inevitable  destruction. 

The  honour  of  the  country,  the  preservation  of  public 
order,  the  protection  of  the  defenceless  cottager,  and  the 
prevention  of  further  disorders,  will  compel  Generals  to 
taark  the  progress  of  their  march  with  your  blood,  and 
judges  to  stretch  the  laws  to  their  utmost.  Equally  cruel 
to  yourselves  and  unmerciful  to  others,  if  you  have  any 
grievances  to  complain  of,  you  block  up  every  road  to  re- 
dress, by  the  very  steps  whereby  you  intend  to  obtain  it. 

In  a  large  country,  and  I  may  almost  say  a  province,  with- 
out arts  or  manufactures,  where,  in  some  places,  in  a  range 
of  fifty  or  sixty  miles,  scarce  a  wheel  or  reel  can  be  met 
with  for  want  of  flax  or  wool  to  employ  the  house-wife, 
and  where  the  very  treasures  of  the  ocean  are  become  use- 
less for  want  of  the  means  to  improve  the  advantages  of 
nature:  in  a  place  so  circumstanced,  where  the  poor  cotta- 
ger must  with  five-pence  a  day  support  himself,  a  wife,  and 
live  or  six  children,  more  or  less,  and  contribute  his  share  to 
the  support  of  the  State,  you  attempt  to  deprive  poor  in- 
dustrious men  of  the  liberty  of  earning  the  means  of  sub- 
sistance.  Some  of  you  can  remember  the  great  frost,  and 
such  of  you  as  were  not  born  at  the  time  must  know,  from 
the  tradition  of  your  fathers,  that  Heaven  visited  the  land 
with  a  famine,  whose  ravages  amongst  the  common  people 
were  such,  that  for  want  of  food,  the  living  had  scarce 
strength  enough  to  bury  the  dead.  Now  Heaven  is  kind  in 
granting  you  an  extraordinary  continuance  of  fair  weather,, 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  357 

and  a  plentiful  harvest,  and  the  favours  of  Heaven  you  re- 
ject. Instead  of  practising  the  lesson  which  nature  itself 
gives  you  in  the  example  of  the  ant,  the  bee,  and  several 
classes  of  irrational  beings,  an  example  which  Solomon  re- 
commends to  your  imitation  in  the  following  words  :  Go  to 
the  ant,  thou  sluggard,  consider  her  ways  and  be  wise  ;  which 
having  no  guide,  overseer,  or  rider,  provideth  her  ?neet  in  the 
summer,  and  gathereih  her  food  in  the  harvest.  Instead  of  im- 
proving the  fair  weather  to  the  best  advantage  in  new  thatch- 
ing your  cabins,  in  minding  your  business,  and  laying  in  a 
stock  for  the  support  of  yourselves  and  families  against  the 
ensuing  winter,  you  exhaust  your  health  in  those  nightly  ex- 
cursions, the  fruits  of  which  must  be  the  loss  of  life  or  liberty, 
or  criminal  weariness  which  disables  you  from  working  the 
following  day.  Under  the  pretence  of  redressing  griev- 
ances, you  confine  the  labourer  who  has  no  work  at  home, 
who  at  stated  times  goes  to  earn  his  wages  in  other  parishes, 
and  whose  assistance  is  requisite  for  saving  the  harvest 
You  confine  him  to  his  cottage,  where  he  has  nothing  to  be- 
hold  but  a  wife  and  children  perishing  with  hunger,  and  hm 
spade  and  shovel  decaying  with  rust,  because  by  the  regula- 
tions of  the  Rightboys,  he  dares  not  to  handle  them  in  the 
parishes  where  he  could  get  employment.  Thus  you  op- 
press the  poor;  you  distress  the  farmer,  who  at  certain 
times  wants  an  extraordinary  number  of  hands;  you  will 
fill  the  gaols  with  insolvent  debtors;  and  you  begin  to  sow 
the  seeds  of  scarcity  and  famine,  which  yourselves  must  in- 
evitably feel,  as  well  as  the  innocent,  which  suffer  but  too 
often  for  the  guilt  of  others.  IC  this  be  your  mode  of  re- 
dressing grievances,  the  remedy  is  worse  than  the  disease ; 
and  if  no  other  crime  could  be  laid  to  your  charge  but  this 
regulation  only,  this  alone  would  expose  you  to  the  detes- 
tation of  every  honest  man. 

I  appeal  to  yourselves,  whether  the  unhappy  persons  who 
lost  their  lives  by  attempting  a  rescue,  and  thus  impeding 
the  course  of  justice,  would  not  have  done  better  to  mind 
their  business,  than  to  cut  off  by  a  sudden  death,  and  leave 
their  widows  and  orphans  without  support  ?  To  yourselves 
1  appeal,  whether  such  of  your  associates  as  have  already 
undergone  the  just  punishment  of  the  law,  or  such  as  are 


358  MISCELLANEOUS     TRACTS. 

now  confined  in  order  to  take  their  trial  at  the  next  assizes* 
and  who,  besides  their  personal  disgrace  and  danger,  must 
feci  for  their  families,  destitute  of  their  support,  and  dis- 
tressing themselves  to  support  them  in  their  confinement  ? 
I  appeal  to  yourselves,  whether  these  persons  would  not 
have  done  better  to  mind  their  labour,  and  partake  in 
common  with  their  little  families  of  the  fruits  of  their  ho- 
nest industry,  than  to  be,  as  they  now  are,  the  unpUieel 
objects  of  wretchedness,  labouring  under  present  ano-uish, 
and  haunted  with  the  terror  of  future  punishment,  repre- 
senting to  themselves  the  sword  of  justice  hanging  over  their 
heads,  and  uncertain  of  their  future  destiny.  Would  you 
really  wish  to  be  in  their  situation  ?  Answer  me. — I  am 
sure  you  would  not.  If  then  you  intend  to  avoid  their  fate, 
avoid  their  example,  and  learn  a  little  wisdom  from  the  folly 
of  others,  or  rather  avoid  the  punishment  by  avoiding  the 
guilt. 

Do  you  really  believe,  my  brethren,  (1  call  you  brethren, 
because  1  begin  to  soften  from  pity  for  the  misfortunes  you 
have  already  brought  on  others,  and  which  you  will  inevi- 
tably bring  on  yourselves,  for  methinks  I  already  hear  the 
cries  of  your  widows,  or  forlorn  mothers,  calling  to  me  for 
alms  to  help  them  to  buy  your  coffins.)  do  you  really  be- 
lieve that  an  obstinate  perseverance  in  disorder,  a  repetition 
of  conflagrations  and  outrages,  and  a  gradual  rise  from  one 
abuse  to  another,  are  the  best  means  of  disposing  your 
rulers  to  lenity,  and  to  a  consideration  of  the  causes  of  your 
complaints  ?  No,  they  only  tend  to  give  a  keener  edge  to 
the  sword  of  justice.  You  should  rather  dread,  lest  con- 
stant provocations  on  your  part,  and  every  effort  to  re- 
claim you  to  your  duty,  rendered  fruitless  by  an  obstinate 
resistance,  may  induce  the  legislature  to  make  what  is 
called  a  misdemeanor,  capital  felony,  and  that  the  same  of- 
fences which  in  your  associates  have  been  punished  with 
whipping  or  imprisonment  only,  may  doom  yourselves  to 
the  halter.  What  if  you  were  declared  public  enemies 
to  the  State,  and  shot  without  further  ceremony  where- 
ever  you  would  be  met  with  after  nightfall  ?  This  is  what 
you  have  to  fear,  and  nothing  to  hope  while  you  remain 
turbulent. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 


359 


No  rulers  on  earth  will  permit  any  order  of  men  to  over- 
turn established  laws,  whilst  they  have  power  to  maintain 
their  authority.  Much  less  will  the  rulers  of  this  kingdom 
change  one  tittle  of  the  laws,  on  occasion  of  any  violence 
committed  by  a  set  of  men  who  could  be  mowed  down  as  so 
many  withered  weeds,  by  one  single  regiment.  They  will 
listen  to  the  complaints  of  the  subject  when  preferred  to  them 
in  a  decent,  humble,  and  becoming  manner,  and  through  a 
proper  channel.  But  they  will  reserve  to  themselves  the* 
mode  of  redress,  as  well  as  the  time  for  granting  or  refusing 
it.  The  multitude  is  too  fickle  and  inconstant  for  governing 
itself.  If  it  once  strikes  out  of  the  path  of  subordination,  tu- 
mults, dissensions,  and  the  most  atrocious  crimes  must  be 
the  result ;  and  in  this  state  of  convulsion,  the  man  who  com- 
plained of  grievances  before,  under  the  ruling  powers,  wilL 
feel  heavier  grievances  from  his  neighbour,  who,  unrestrained 
by  law,  will  become  his  murderer  or  oppressor.  Your  con- 
duct justifies  my  remark  ;  the  man  who  earned  his  four-pence 
or  five-pence  a  day,  slept  secure  under  the  protection  of  the 
law,  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  magistrate.  Now, 
by  the  Whiteboy  rules,  he  must  starve  in  his  cottage  for 
want  of  liberty  to  earn  his  bread  in  a  distant  parish,  or  ride- 
the  grey  horse  on  a  furze  saddle,  or  to  be  buried  to  his  chin  in. 
a  torturing  grave.  How  to  conclude  this  letter  I  am  at  a  loss  : 
if  you  have  any  regard  for  your  lives,  for  your  wives,  for 
your  children,  for  your  fathers,  or  for  your  mothers,  I  con- 
jure you  in  the  name  of  God,  to  desist  without  any  further 
delay.  Lord  Luttrell,  who,  to  his  eternal  honour,  has  in- 
quired into  your  complaints,  is  in  possession  of  whatever  is  to 
be  laid  before  the  State  of  the  nation,  whose  decision  you, 
should  wait  for,  with  that  submission  becoming  subjects,  and 
that  prudence  which  should  hinder  you  as  men  from  running 
to  your  final  destruction.  Your  cause  could  not  be  in  worse 
hands  than  your  own  :  therefore  throw  yourselves  on  the  mercy 
of  your  rulers,  and  do  not  force  them  to  forget,  in  the  multi- 
tude of  your  offences,  whatever  may  be  the  cause  of  your  com- 
plaints. This  plain,  simple,  and  candid  advice  is  now  your 
last  resource  :  if  you  reject  it,  you  are  undone  ;  for  you  will 
not  only  have  the  laws  and  the  army  let  loose  on  you,  but 
all  the  nobility  and  gentry ;  all  the  wise,  peaceable,  and  Vir- 
tuous subjects,  will  consider  you  as  public   enemies,  whose 

3  A 


300  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

destruction  is  requisite  for  their  own  preservation.  And  as 
you  are  ignorant  of  the  danger  which  threatens  you,  I  request 
in  your  behalf,  as  a  favour  of  the  Printers  throughout  the 
kingdom,  to  copy  this  letter  into  their  respective  papers,  and 
of  the  friends  of  humanity  to  make  it  as  public  as  possible, 
by  dispersing  it  amongst  you.  That  it  have  on  you  the  de- 
sired effect,  is  the  wish  of 


Your's,  &c. 


Cork,  Nov.  19,   1786. 


A.  O'LEARY. 


REV.  ARTHUR    CTLEARY'S    ADDRESS 

To  the  Lords  Spiritual  and   Temporal  of  the  Parliament  of 
Great  Britain :  to  which  is  added,  an  account  of  Sir  Henry 
Mildmaifs  BUI  relative  to  Nuns. 

Ma:  Lords, 

When  I  have  the  honour  to  address  the  most  august 
Assembly  on  earth,  and  under  the  impression  which  injured 
honour  must  feel  from  an  unmerited  and  horrid  accusation 
that  implies  whatever  can  disgrace  the  human  heart,  and 
changes  a  Christian  clergyman  into  an  infernal  being,  even 
before  he  is  stripped  of  the  spoils  of  mortality,  I  cannot  be 
ignorant  of  the  delicacy  of  my  situation,  lest  conscious,  but 
defenceless  rectitude  should  tempt  me,  even  in  the  most  agi- 
tated frame  of  mind,  to  make  use  of  any  unguarded  word, 
which,  though  inadvertently,  may  give  the  slightest  offence. 

But  in  bringing  the  complaints  of  injured  honour  into  the 
sanctuary  of  honour  itself,  I  claim  your  Lordship's  indul- 
gence if  I  presume  to  introduce  myself  under  the  designation 
which  points  out  my  person  and  character,  to  such  members 
of  your  illustrious  body  as  I  have  not  the  honour  of  being- 
known  to. 

I  am  a  Catholic  clergyman,  a  native  of  Ireland,  well  known 
in  that  kingdom  for  having  inculcated  loyalty  to  my  Sove- 
reign, and  subordination  to  the  iaws,  in  the  most  critical 
limes,  by  my  writings,  my  sermons,  and  example.  For  the 
truth  of  this  assertion  I  could  refer  to  the  speeches  delivered 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  361 

in  the  Irish  House  of  Commons  on  a  former  occasion,  and 
to  the  kingdom  at  large.  Nor  was  my  loyalty  the  effect  of 
imperious  necessity,  or  time-serving  policy  ;  for  in  France, 
where,  in  consequence  of  barbarous  and  Gothic  laws,  1  was 
forced  in  my  early  days  to  seek  for  a  small  portion  of  that 
education  which  I  had  been  refused  in  the  land  of  my  fathers, 
where  the  youth  of  Europe  had  been  instructed  gratis,  in  the 
time  of  Ireland's  splendour.  In  France,  where  the  Catholics 
of  Ireland  had  seminaries  and  convents,  with  full  admission 
to  all  the  degrees  and  honours  of  her  Universities,  I  resisted 
every  solicitation  to  enlist  any  of  the  subjects  of  these  king- 
doms in  the  French  king's  service,  though  I  had  then  every 
opportunity,  being  appointed  to  superintend  prisons  and 
hospitals,  during  the  wars  of  fifty-seven,  &c.  until  about 
the  arrival  of  the  then  Duke  of  Bedford  in  Paris.  It  was 
my  interest  to  recommend  myself  to  the  favour  of  the 
people  in  power,  and  consequently,  more  my  interest  to 
become  a  courtier  than  a  moralist,  bail  it  Paul  calls  God 
to  witness  when  he  asserts  the  truth,  I  can  do  the  same 
when  I  assert  that  conscience  was  the  rule  of  my  conduct; 
and,  whatever  the  uninformed  may  think  of  my  creed,  I 
would  not  perjure  myself  for  all  the  Crowns  and  Sceptres 
on  earth. 

Thus  far  I  thought  it  incumbent  on  me  to  say  something 
of  myself,  in  order  to  shew  that  not  a  single  feature  in  my 
character  corresponds  with  the  picture,  of  the  exhibition 
whereof,  I  have  such  room  to  complain.  I  have  taken  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  his  Majesty  with  the  rest  of  the  Catho- 
lic clergy  of  Ireland  ;  as  then  we  are  amenable  to  Govern- 
ment, and  fulfil  our  part  of  the  covenant,  we  think  ourselves 
entitled  to  the  protection  of  the  laws  both  as  to  our  persons 
and  honour.  Our  persons  have  been  hitherto  secure  from 
insult;  how  long  they  may  be  so  is  uncertain,  if  the  public 
can  believe  that  we  answer  the  description  given  of  us  in  a 
short  publication  to  which  the  editor  has  prefixed  the  name 
of  a  very  considerable  person,  who  is  presumed  to  know  the 
state  of  Ireland,  or  who  ought  to  know  it  better.  For  if  our 
lineaments  bear  even  the  slightest  resemblance  to  the  portrait 
he  is  said  to  have  drawn,  we  ought  to  be  swept  from  society  as 
serpents  horrid  to  sight,  and  pests  deadly  to  human  nature. 


:>G2  MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS. 

And  as  to  honour,  if  what  this  publication  sets  forth,  be 
true,  we  have  by  far  less  claim  to  it  than  the  Cartouches,  or 
Bagshots :  for,  the  publication,  after  enlarging  upon  the 
civilization  and  other  happy  effects  of  the  Union  of  Ireland 
with  Great  Britain,  reckons,  amongst  others,  the  following 
remarkable  one :  •  It  will  entice  the  Clergy  to  more  con- 
'  stant  residence,   by  which  means   the  pernicious  influence 

*  of  the  vagrant  Catholic  Friest,  who  goes  about  selling  ab- 

*  solution  for  felonies,  and  all  sorts  of  crimes,  even  murder 

*  itself,  would  be  lessened,  and  in  a  great  measure  done 
4  away.' 

Horrid  and  barbarous  accusation !  which  describes  the 
Catholic  Priests  of  Ireland  as  the  most  detestable  of  the  hu- 
man race,  venders  of  sacrilege,  profanation,  murder,  and 
felony ;  and  their  flocks  as  so  many  licensed  criminals  and 
patentees  of  guilt,  in  purchasing  their  absolutions  for  the 
perpetration  of  the  most  horrid  deeds.  The  vagrant  Catho- 
lic Priests  selling  absolutions  for  felonies,  all  sorts  of  crimes, 
even  murder. 

I  am  as  great  a  friend  to  the  Union,  and  have  reconciled,  I 
believe,  as  many  to  it,  as  the  person  to  whom  the  publication 
is  attributed,  i  am  a  friend  to  it  from,  as  I  imagined,  a  well- 
founded  expectation,  that  it  will  close  the  tumultuary  scenes 
which  have  distracted  my  ill-fated  country  for  ages ;  and 
make  the  natives,  of  every  religious  description,  happy :  a 
people  united,  not  in  a  league  against  Great  Britain,  but  uni- 
ted with  her  and  amongst  themselves  in  interest,  prosperity, 
and  power ;  by  a  free  and  equal  participation  of  all  benefits 
and  advantages  arising  in  the  state,  and  by  the  removal  of 
those  jealousies  which  ever  subsist  between  kingdoms  or 
states,  standing  in  the  same  relation  to  each  other  as  England 
has  stood  hitherto  with  respect  to  Ireland-— the  one  subor- 
dinate to  the  other,  and  governed  by  viceroys,  and  both  but 
half  united.  Divisions,  jealousies,  and  their  concomitant 
evils,  must  be  the  natural  consequence.  Such  was  the 
state  of  Norway,  with  regard  to  Denmark,  until  united. 
Such  was  the  state  of  Portugal  with  regard  to  Spain,  and  of 
Flandera  with  regard  to  Austria,  until  separated.  And 
such  would  be  the  state  of  Ireland  with  regard  to  England, 
until  wedded  together  in  the  bands  of  a  close  and  intimate 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  383 

union  ;  or  divorced  from  each  other  by  a  solemn  irrevocable 
deed  of  separation.  For  the  calamities  of  Ireland  are  not 
originally  and  radically  owing  to  difference  in  religious  opi- 
nions. The  kingdoms  and  states  above  mentioned  professed 
the  same  creed.  There  is  nothing  unsociable  in  the  charac- 
ter of  Irishmen,  any  more  than  in  the  character  of  Germans; 
amongst  whom,  in  some  places,  Lutherans,  Calvinists,  and 
Catholics,  perform  their  respective  worship,  on  Sundays,  in 
the  same  church.  Amidst  such  a  multiplicity  of  penal  laws, 
some  of  which  persecuted  the  dead  body  to  the  grave,  in 
forbidding,  under  certain  penalties,  to  bury  any  Catholic  in 
the  ruins  of  an  old  abbey,  though  built  ages  before  bv  his 
ancestors ;  no  Catholic  could  icarce  have  breathed  outside 
the  bars  of  a  jail,  had  it  not  been  for  the  liberality  of  our 
Protestant  neighbours,  who  were  too  generous  to  enforce 
them.  All  the  liberal-minded  Protestants  in  Ireland  are 
for  the  emancipation  of  the  Catholics  to  this  very  day.  And 
such  as  are  under  any  bias  now,  would  soon  give  up  their 
prejudices,  or  rather,  would  never  have  indulged  any,  if  the 
law  had  made  no  distinction. 

Long  before  the  magic  sound  of  Protestant  and  Papist, 
like  the  Trojan  trumpet,  had  given  the  signal  to  marshal 
them,  as  hostile  armies  against  each  other,  on  account  of 
their  creeds — an  insiduous  and  destructive  policy  was  at  a 
loss  how  to  divide  the  natives  of  Ireland,  after  they  had 
sheathed  the  sword,  and  coalesced  into  one  extensive  and 
friendly  family.  It  had  not  then  the  plea  of  difference  of 
religion,  for  their  religion  was  the  same :  nor  the  plea  of 
interest,  for  it  is  the  interest  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  same 
land  to  live  in  peace  and  harmony.  At  last  it  compassed, 
by  playing  on  the  passions,  what  it  could  not  have  effected 
by  either  religion  or  interest. 

The  Irish  nobility  and  gentry  of  the  Milesian  race  wore 
long  beards,  in  which  they  gloried;  the  Government  of 
that  time  got  an  act  of  parliament  passed,  called  the  Glib 
Act,  whereby  every  Irish  nobleman,  of  English  or  Norman 
extraction,  was  to  forfeit  the  privileges  of  his  orio-jnal  coun- 
try if  he  did  not  shave  the  upper  lip.  Thus  the  warlike  fools 
renewed  the  bloody  contest,  tor  the  splitting  of  a  hair,  with 
as  much  fury   as  the  two  famous  factions,  in  the  rei<rn  of 


364  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

Justinian,  quarrelled  on  account  of  the  colour  of  their 
clothes  ;  or,  as  the  sectaries  of  Ali  and  Omar  fight,  to  this 
very  day,  about  the  orthodox  cut  that  should  be  given  1o  a 
Mahometan's  beard.  And  1  consider  such  of  the  Protes- 
tant and  Catholics  of  Ireland  full  as  great  fanatics  and  fools 
as  the  former,  if  their  creed  be  the  cause  of  their  quarrel; 
not  that  I  am  such  a  latitudinarian  as  to  believe  all  religions 
alike.  But  true  religion,  instead  of  inspiring  hatred  and 
rancour,  commands  us  to  love  and  pity  those  who  are  in 
error. 

The  fleecy  beard,  and  the  glib  or  smooth  lip,  were  both 
forgotten  a  few  years  after  the  Reformation,  in  the  appella- 
tion of  Protestant  and  Papist ;  and  thus  the  same  sanguinary 
system  has  been  continued,  with  few  interruptions,  for  too 
long  a  time,  to  the  destruction  of  a  kingdom,  which,  from  its 
happy  situation,  the  commodiousness  of  its  harbours,  the 
temperature  of  its  climate,  the  fertility  of  its  soil,  the  manly 
and  generous  dispositions  of  its  inhabitants,  would  realize 
whatever  poets  have  feigned  concerning  Fortunate  Islands, 
and  Hesperian  Gardens.  To  do  away  the  jealousy  which 
may  hereafter  operate  to  the  same  destructive  effect,  by 
playing  off  the  natives  against  each  other,  to  their  mutual 
provocation  and  obstruction  to  the  happiness  and  prosperity 
of  their  common  country,  was  the  chief  motive  which  influ- 
enced my  mind  in  recommending  the  Union,  as  the  only 
effectual  preventive. 

As  to  the  happy  effect  of  the  Union,  by  making  the  resi- 
dence of  the  clergy  a  check  on  the  pernicious  influence  of 
the  vagrant  Catholic  priest,  who  sells  his  absolution  for  all 
sorts  of  crimes  ;  it  is  as  fancifully  imagined,  as  it  is  delicately 
expressed.  The  parson  hereby  assumes  the  office  of  an  ex- 
ciseman to  seize  the  contraband  absolutions  of  the  priest, 
who  becomes  a  smuggler — a  well  conceived  plan  for  increas- 
ing the  revenues  of  Ireland,  and  refining  the  manners  of  her 
inhabitants!  The  Protestant  and  Catholic  clergy  of  Ireland 
have  lived  together,  for  years,  in  the  habits  of  freedom  and 
friendship ;  when,  by  the  laws  of  the  country,  the  latter  were 
doomed  to  transportation  for  performingtheir  religious  func- 
tions, the  clergy  of  the  established  church,  never  turned  in- 
formers, nor   applied    to   Members  of  Parliament,  for  the 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  365 

purpose  of  swelling  with  new  laws,  the  enormous  penal 
code,  on  account  of  literary  disputes.  Jt  is  not  from  each 
other  they  have  any  thing  to  fear;  but  both  have  every  thing 
to  dread  from  the  disciples  of  the  New  Philosophy,  which 
has  made  a  rapid  progress  amongst  their  respective  flocks ; 
at  the  root  of  this  system,  and  not  against  any  branch  of  the 
Christian  religion,  which  professes  obedience  to  the  laws, 
the  axe  of  power  should  be  laid  :  and  nothing  cherishes 
the  growth  of  infidelity  more  than  publications  which  tend 
to  expose  the  pastors  to  the  derision  and  contempt  of  those 
who  were  accustomed,  and  whose  duty  it  was,  to  respect 
them. 

It  is  needless  to  have  recourse  to  France,  where  the 
pmests1  cassock  began  to  be  considered  by  the  higher  or- 
ders as  an  antiquated  dress;  and  the  lower  classes,  who 
afterwards  burnt  the  castle,  and  shed  the  blood  of  these 
nobles,  learned  disrespect  for  their  teachers  from  their 
example.  Ireland  has  of  late  afforded  but  too  melancholy  an 
instance  of  the  truth  of  this  remark.  The  habit  of  respect 
and  submission  to  their  clergy,  was  in  such  a  manner  an 
earnest  pledge  of  the  obedience  of  the  common  people  to 
the  state,  that  amidst  so  many  wars  and  rebellions,  since  the 
Revolution,  until  the  destruction  of  monarchy  in  France, 
Ireland  was  not  one  single  hour  tainted  with  the  spirit  of 
rebellion.  Lord  Chesterfield,  on  his  return  from  his  Vice- 
royship,  informed  George  II.  that  he  had  met  in  Ireland  but 
two  dangerous  Papists  of  whom  his  Majesty  should  be 
aware — two  ladies  of  the  names  of  Devereux,  who  had 
danced  at  the  Castle  on  the  King's  birth  night.  All  the 
Viceroys  of  Ireland,  from  Lord  Chesterfield  to  Earl  Cam- 
den, could  have  made  much  a  similar  answer,  if  interrogated 
concerning  what  is  called  the  danger  of  Popery. 

If  a  number  of  the  common  people,  in  some  countries, 
were  seduced  from  the  peaceable  line  of  conduct,  which 
they  had  hitherto  pursued,  the  chief  cause  will,  as  it  ought 
to  be  ascribed  to  their  disobedience  to  their  pastors ;  in 
consequence  of  the  industrious  propagation  of  Tom  Paine's 
pernicious  principles,  and  the  artifices  of  people  of  power 
and  consequence,  of  a  religion,  if  any  they  had,  different  from 
the  Catholic  persuasion.     Other   collateral    causes   can   be 


366  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

assigned  which  it  is  the  province  of  the  impartial  historian 
to  detail,  when  he  lays  open  the  hidden  springs  of  public 
transactions.  But  means  were  used  to  weaken  the  confi- 
dence of  the  people  in  their  pastors,  by  representing  them 
as  so  many  impostors,  leagued  with  Government  for  their 
oppression.* 

In  the  American  war,  when  the  combined  fleets  of 
France  and  Spain  were  riding  triumphant  in  the  British 
Channel,  almost  all  the  English  forces  engaged  beyond 
the  Atlantic,  and  Ireland  destitute  of  any  regular  defence, 
except  a  few  dismounted  dragoons,  the  loyal  and  peace- 
able conduct  of  the  common  people,  attentive  to  the  in- 
structions of  their  pastors,  could  be  equalled  only  by  the 
union  and  exertions  of  the  higher  orders  for  the  protection 
of  the  kingdom. 

Many  instances  could  1  adduce,  in  which  the  peaceful 
voice  of  the  priest  was  more  effectual  to  quell  riots  and  dis- 
turbances, than  the  thunder  of  the  cannon  could  have  been. 
In  proportion  as  this  influence  is  weakened  in  a  kingdom 
situated  as  Ireland  is,  the  spirit  of  insubordination  and  infi- 
delity will  strengthen.  Remove  the  restraints  of  religion, 
from  men  of  strong  passions,  irritable  dispositions,  and  des- 
perate courage — let  the  influence  of  their  priests  be  de- 
stroyed, they  will  become  infidels.  The  kingdom  will  be  then 
chiefly  divided  between  the  infidels  of  the  South,  who  will 
have  no  religion,  and  the  Dissenters  of  the  North,  whose 
religion  breathes  freedom  and  independence  on  hierarchial 
Government. 

The  maxim  laid  down  by  Doctor  Law,  a  Protestant  Bi- 
shop, equally  eminent  for  learning  and  liberality,  is  by  far 
more  consistent  with  Christianity  and  sound  policy.  '  By  far 
*  the  greatest  part  of  my  diocesans,'  said  this  illustrious  pre- 
late, '  are  of  the  Roman  Catholic  persuasion.    I  cannot  make 


*  This  is  so  true,  that  the  United  Irishmen  universally  execrate  the  Catholic  Clergy, 
ns  concurring-  both  to  disunite  and  prevent  any  accession  of  strength,  by  their  sermons 
and  pastoral  instructions:  and  impute  partly  the  frustration  of  their  plans,  to  these 
very  priests,  so  cruelly  libelled  by  others,  from  whom  more  candour  and  justice  might 
be  expected.  The  clergy  of  both  religions  must  stand  or  fall  together.  In  all  ap- 
pearance, had  the  rebellion  succeeded,  there  would  be  none  but  Cousitulional  Priests 
and  Ministers,  as  immoral  as  their  Republican  flocks. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  867 

c  good  Protestants  of  them,  I  wish   to  make  good  Catholics 

*  of  them;  and  with  this  intention  1  put  into  their  hands  the 

*  Works  of  Doctor  Gother,  an  eminent  Catholic  divine.' 

If  Doctor  Law's  maxim  be  followed — if,  instead  of  having 
the  people  eternally  harassed  on  the  score  of  religion,  every 
one  rests  in  peace  under  his  own  vine  and  tig-tree,  a  Catho- 
lic priest,  respected  by  his  flock,  will  be  a  safer  guard  to  a 
Protestant  clergyman,  than  a  regiment  of  the  best  disciplined 
soldiers. 

4  Let  us  uncatholicise  France,'  said  Mirabeau,  '  otherwise 
4  we  can  never  establish  a  Republican  Government.'  It  is 
then  much  safer  for  the  state  to  continue  the  Catholic  cate- 
chism in  the  hands  of  the  common  people,  who  are  accus- 
tomed to  it,  than  to  expose  them  to  the  danger  of  having 
Tom  Paine's  Age  of  Reason  substituted  in  its  room.  And 
his  Majesty  will  bo  more  secure  on  his  throne,  when  a  Ca- 
tholic clergyman  recommends  him  and  the  Royal  Family  to 
God,  from  the  altar,  than  when  a  fifth  monarchy  man,  after 
reading  in  his  Bible,  thou  shall  bind  their  kings  in  chains,  and 
their  nobles  in  fetters  of  iron,  acknowledges  no  king  but  King 
Jesus ;  or,  when  Regicides  inscribe  on  the  muzzles  of  their 
guns,  Lord,  thou  wilt  open  my  lips,  and  my  mouth  shall  sing 
forth  thy  praise.  The  History  of  England  affords  but  too 
many  melancholy  proofs  of  it. 

As  to  the  blessing's  of  civilization  which  are  to  be  extended 
to  Ireland  by  the  Union,  any  insinuation,  that  the  Irish  stand 
in  need  of  it  more  than  their  neighbours,  must  hurt  their 
oride. 

I  suppose  he  means  the  lower  orders  of  the  people  of  Ire- 
land. All  philosophical  and  unprejudiced  travellers,  who 
have  observed  with  attention  their  customs  and  manners, 
acknowledge  that  they  surpass  the  lower  orders  of  any 
other  country,  in  generosity,  wit,  vivacity,  manliness  and  ac- 
tivity. It  is  not  at  St.  Giles,  or  Wapping,  where  their  man- 
ners and  morals  are  vitiated  by  the  contagion  of  example, 
that  the  character  of  the  lower  orders  of  the  Irish  is  to  be 
known.  It  is  in  the  inland  and  mountainous  parts  of  Ire- 
land, where  bare-footed  boys  study  the  classics ;  and  where 
the  civility  of  the  common  people  to  strangers,  and  to  each 
other,  distinguishes  them  as  much  from  Dutch  boors,  and 

3b 


ob\i  MISCELLANEOUS     TRACTS, 

th  6  rustics  of  other  countries,    as  education  distinguishes  a 

well-bred  man  from  a  clown.    It  is  not  civilization,  but  bread 

and  employment   they  stand  in  need  of:  and  if  it  be  true, 

that  language  and  music  were  the  first  civilizers  that  soften- 
er      o  .  . 

ed  the  savage  manners  of  unpolished  man  ;  it  seems,  from 
the  inharmonious  stile  of  the  author  of  a  publication,  which 
identifies,  by  a  grammatical  apposition,  a  Catholic  priest  and 
a  vagrant — that  he  has  not  such   a  stock  of  civilization  to 

o  ....  ... 

spare,  as  to  be  enabled  to  divide  it  with  others  without  im- 
poverishing himself,  Though  his  rank  in  life  entitles  him 
to  range  in  those  circles,  one  of  whose  first  rules  is  that  oi 
good  breeding,  if  the  name  which  the  editor  has  prefixed  to 
the  publication  be  not  fictitious. 

The  Catholic  clergy  of  Ireland,  my  Lords,   are  not  va- 
grants :  they  claim  their  descent  from  the  most  ancient  and 
noble  families  in  that  kingdom  ;   and,  though  pride  of  birth 
attaches  no  consequence  either  to  their  persons  or  profession, 
in  the  eyes  of  the  patrons  of  liberty  and  equality,  yet  it  must 
have    weight   with   your    Lordships.     For    in    Monarchies, 
where,  according  to  Montesquieu,  there  must  be  gradation  s 
of  ranks,  and  nobles,  like  your  Lordships,  whose    titles  and 
privileges  are   descendable  to  their  posterity,  a  certain  re- 
gard must  be  paid  to  lineage  and  pedigree ;   and  if  the  day 
should  ever  happen  (which  heaven  avert)  when  the  gentle- 
man should  be   confounded   with  the  clown,  and  the  priest 
with  the  vagrant,  away  with  the  coronet  and  the  armorial 
bearings.     My  name  is  Equality,  said  the  late  Duke  of  Or- 
leans :  the  unhappy  man    prophesied  !   His   head   fell,  with 
equal  honour,  from  the  edge  of  the  guillotine  into  the  same 
basket  with  the  head  of  the   sans-culotte.     If  then  the  au- 
thor of  the  worse  than  illiberal  publication,   alluded   to  in 
this  address,  be  that  man  of  consequence,  whose  name  the 
editor  has  prefixed  to  it,  he  forgets  himself,  and  the  regard 
due  to  dignity  of  rank,   and  the  rules  of  common  decency, 
when  he  treats  gentlemen  of  family,  and  of  a  liberal  educa- 
tion, such  as  the  Catholic  clergy  of  Ireland,  with  millions  of 
times  less  ceremony  than  it  would   be  in  his  power  to  treat 
a  pilfering  crew  of  strolling  gipsies.      The  vagrant  Catholic 
priest  selling  his   absolutions  for  all  sorts  of  crimes,  felonies  f 

&,'C.  ${C. 


MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS.  369 

The  ancestors,  my  Lords,  of  the  Catholic  clergy  of  Ire- 
land, had  the  religion  which  the  Christian  worid  professed, 
and  the  estates  and  castles  of  their  fathers,  ages  before  Tu- 
dors  or  Stuarts  had  ascended  the  British  throne.  From  the 
contemporary  historians  of  their  own  and  of  other  nations, 
and  ancient  monuments,  daily  rescued  from  ruins  and  wa- 
tery wastes,  their  character  must  be  drawn :  not  from 
Hume,  and  similar  historians,  as  unfaithful  in  their  narratives 
with  regard  to  Ireland,  as  tbey  are  infidels  with  regard  to 
Revelation. 

Amidst  the  various  changes  that  happened  in  Europe, 
the  descendants  of  those  Catholics  preserved  their  religion, 
which  persecution  contributed  to  rivet  deeper  into  their 
minds;  as,  the  more  the  wind  attempted  to  strip  the  tra- 
veller of  his  cloak,  the  closer  he  held  it.  But  their  estates 
and  castles  they  lost,  rather  than  renounce  their  duty  to 
God,  and  their  allegiance  to  their  kings;  one  of  whom  had 
the  base  ingratitude  to  confirm  to  Cromwell's  soldiers, 
tinged  with  his  royal  father's  blood,  the  lands  of  the  nobility 
and  gentry  who  had  fought  his  father's  battles  and  his 
own.* 

In  addition  to  our  losses  under  the  usurpation  of  Crom- 
well, and  subsequent  ones  at  the  Revolution,  our  most 
invaluable  privileges  were  swept  away  at  a  political  game 
of  hazard,  played  by  Whigs  and  Tories,  under  the  last  of 
the  Stuarts,  without  the  slightest  provocation  on  our  part 
For  the  laws  framed  in  Queen  Anne's  reign  against  the  Ca- 
tholics of  Ireland,  are  of  so  horrid  a  complexion,  that  it  was 
never  the  intention  of  those  who  devised  them  to  have  them 
enacted:  their  very  cruelty  was  the  only  motive  for  invent- 
ing; them. 

Queen  Anne,  whose  father  had  been  a  mendicant,  sup- 
ported by  the  generosity  of  a  foreign  king,  was  suspected  of 
wishing  that  her  brother,  a  Catholic  prince,  should  succeed 
her.  The  party,  to  whom  her  Ministers  were  obnoxious, 
intended  to  draw  on  them  the  odium  of  purposing  to  place 
the  Pretender  on  the  throne.  With  this  view,  they  framed 
a  code  of  laws,  authorising  the  neighbour  to  plunder  the 
neighbour,  the  brother  to  supplant  the  brother,  and  the  pro- 

*  The   wills   and    deeds   of  uumbers  of  these  forfeitures  are  deposited  io  the  British 
Museum. 


370  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

fiigafc  son  to  strip  the  father  of  his  estate  and  to  make  him 
tenant  for  life,  only  by  taking  an  oath  of  abjuration  ;  with  a 
variety  of  other  penal  clauses  equally  cruel  and  unjust.  The 
very  severity  of  laws,  clashing  with  those  of  God  and  na- 
ture, gave  them  every  room  to  believe  that  they  would  be 
opposed  by  the  court  party,  from  principles  of  humanity 
and  justice.  And  thus  they  flattered  themselves  with  the 
success  of  an  expedient,  calculated  to  expose  their  opponents 
to  the  hatred  entertained  at  the  time  against  those  who 
were  deemed  the  friends  of  the  Pope  and  the  Pretender. 

The  shrewd  courtiers,  aware  of  the  design  of  their  anta- 
gonists, and,  either  willing  to  sacrifice  justice  and  humanity 
to  their  personal  interest,  or  flattering  themselves  that  the 
laws  would  be  but  of  short  duration,  in  the  event  of  the  suc- 
cess of  their  plan,  unexpectedly  gave  into  the  measure,  to 
remove  the  suspicion  of  their  design.  It  was  too  late  for 
the  other  party  to  recede  ;  and  thus,  in  the  time  of  profound 
peace,  in  violation  of  a  solemn  compact,  sanctioned  by  the 
Jaws  of  nations,  the  Catholics  of  Ireland,  like  balls  in  a  ten- 
nis-court, struck  with  the  rackets  of  both  parties,  were 
thrown  over  the  walls  of  the  constitution  of  their  country, 
against  the  original  intention  of  the  state  gamesters. 

If  rulers  and  statesmen,  long  since  resolved  into  their 
original  dust,  have  handed  down  to  us  restraints  and  dis- 
qualifications as  a  legal  inheritance,  it  is  their  fault  and  our 
misfortune,  but  not  a  reason  which  authorises  those  to 
whom  the  destinies  have  been  more  propitious,  to  aggravate 
our  calamities,  by  loading  us  with  gross  slander,  and  worse 
than  degrading  epithets,  venders  of  murders,  and  purchasers 
of  felonies  !  Neither  is  this  an  age  for  the  triumph  of  over- 
bearing contempt  towards  the  descendants  of  the  victims  of 
the  revolutions  of  former  times,  when  Europe  is  threatened 
with  a  more  extraordinary  revolution  than  that  which  has 
reduced  the  Catholics  of  Ireland  to  their  present  situation. 

Solomon  said,  in  his  time,  nothing  new  under  the  Sun.  About 
a  century  and  a  half  ago,  England's  King  was  brought  to 
the  scaffold ;  her  princes  and  nobles,  and  other  loyalists, 
emigrants  in  France  and  other  countries,  where  they  were 
hospitably  received,  as  the  emigrants  of  those  countries  are 


MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS.  371 

now  in  their  turn  generously  received  in  England,  and  in  deri- 
sion of  the  peerage,  draymen  were  placed  by  an  usurper, 
in  that  very  house  where  your  Lordships  shine  with  such 
lustre. 

Little  it  was  expected,  about  a  century  ago,  when  a  prince 
of  the  House  of  Orange  was  seated  on  the  British  Throne, 
after  having  placed  a  guard  over  James  the  Second,  his  father- 
in-law,  in  the  palace  of  Hampton  Court,  that  his  successor 
in  the  Stadtholdership  of  Holland,  dethroned  by  his  rebel- 
lious subjects,  would  be  under  the  necessity  of  taking  up 
his  residence  in  the  very  same  palace  where  a  King  of  Eng- 
land hold  been  a  kind  of  prisoner  before  :  an  awful  instance 
of  the  vicissitudes  of  human  affairs ;  which  should  inspire 
princes  themselves  with  humanity  and  compassion  for  the 
oppressed — when  they  not  only  know  that  they  are  doomed 
to  die  as  other  mortals,  but  moreover  exposed,  from  the 
inconstancy  of  fortune,  to  survive  their  power.  Go,  said  Ma- 
rius,  once  the  master  of  Rome,  and  conqueror  of  the  Cim- 
bri,  go  and  tell  the  Governor  of  Africa,  that  you  have  seen 
Marius  perishing  with  hunger  on  the  ruins  of  Carthage, 
alluding  to  the  instability  of  human  grandeur,  in  the  down- 
fal  of  such  a  powerful  state,  and  the  change  of  his  own 
fortune. 

When  we  see  kingdoms  and  empires  fall,  as  it  were,  upon 
one  another — when  we  see  kings  and  queens,  a  few  years 
back  the  idols  of  their  subjects,  eclipsing  in  splendour  the 
pomp  and  magnificence  of  Oriental  grandeur — when  we  see 
them  bleeding  on  scaffolds,  and  their  bodies  deprived  of  those 
funeral  rites  which  decency  owes  to  humanity,  we  are  con- 
vinced that  uneertainty,  inconstancy,  and  agitation,  are  the 
proper  portions  of  all  sublunary  affairs ;  and  the  greatest 
abuse  of  power  is  to  triumph  and  insult  over  oppressed  inno- 
cence. 

The  Catholic  clergy  of  Ireland  should  not  then  be  singled 
out  as  objects  of  defamation  and  invective,  for  having  fallen 
victims  to  those  reverses  of  fortune  to  which  crowned  heads, 
princes  and  nobles  are  exposed.  In  their  poverty  they  have 
birth  and  honour,  which  neither  revolutions  nor  penal  laws 
can  affect :  no  immoral  man  is  ever  allowed  to  officiate  at 
their  altars :  when  their  prelates,  who  are  ever  watchful  over 


372  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

the  inferior  clergy,  discover  any  who  depart  from  the  line  of 
duty  required  by  the  sanction  of  their  profession,  they  sus- 
pend or  excommunicate  them,  and  thus  cut  them  oft'  from 
the  communion  of  the  Catholic  church. 

The  same  laws  that  encouraged  the  son  to  disobey  and  strip 
the  Catholic  father  of  his  property,  encouraged  the  refrac- 
tory clergyman  to  set  the  injunctions  and  admonitions  of  his 
bishops  at  defiance,  by  taking  the  oath  of  abjuration  :  for,  as 
an  encouragement  to  outward  conformity,  the  laws  of  Ire- 
land allow  forty  pounds  a  year  to  every  priest  who  reads  his 
recantation,  whether  he  be  a  moral  man  or  not. 


In  a  word,    nothing  whatever  is   required  to  become  an 
elect  of  the  state,  but  the  outward   utterance  of  the  oath  of 
abjuration,  whether  it  is  believed  by  the  person  who  takes  it, 
or  whether  it  belies  his  heart.     All    the   punishments   and 
legal  disqualifications  are    reserved  for  the  retainers  of  con- 
scious integrity,    who   sacrifice  all  worldly  interests   rather 
than  swear  against  the  dictates  of  their  conscience,  and  thus 
do  not  choose   to   perjure  themselves,  and  impose   on  their 
neighbours.     In  the  very  supposition  that  they  err,  (which  is 
the  supposition  of  others,    not  theirs,)  they   err  in  their  ho- 
nesty ;   for  no  road  can  be  right  to  the  man  who  walks  in  it 
against  conviction.     And  this   circumstance  alone  is  more 
than  an  ample  refutation  of   the  impious  and  hell-invented 
charge  of  a  Catholic  priest  selling  absolutions  for  all  sorts  of 
crimes,  felonies,  and  murders :  for  if  there  were  priests  who 
had  such  commodities  for  sale,  and  Catholics  to  purchase  them, 
long  before  now  the  Catholic   noblemen  would  have  been 
seated  in  the  House  of  Peers  with  your  Lordships  in  legisla- 
ting for  the  lands.     Every  obstacle  would  be  soon  removed  ; 
one  single  oath  would  be  the  ptnacea  which  would  cure  all 
disorders:   we  see  ourselves  excluded  from  all  the  dignities 
and  places  of  emolument  in  the  state.     In  consequence  of  this 
exclusion  we  see  ourselves  abused  by  the  very  dregs  and  lees 
of  the  peasantry  of  our  country  ;  such  as  Doctor  Duigninane, 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  373 

Hie  son  of  a  peasant  who  had  read  his  recantation  to  be 
schoolmaster  to  poor  children  in  a  charity  school,  now 
ranking  with  the  senators  in  the  land,  and  realizing  in  our 
days  what  Solomon  complained  of  as  one  of  the  evils  inci- 
dent to  human  nature — Another  evil  I  have  seen  under  the 
sun,  I  have  seen  servants  or  beggars  on  houses,  and  princes 
walking  on  the  earth,  or  on  foot,  Ecclcsiast.es  10.  Not  that 
I  won  id  reproach  any  man  with  the  meanness  of  his  birth, 
when  I  would  see  Apollo  crown  modest  merit.  But  when  a 
vulgar  man,  under  the  shield  of  penal  laws,  is  continually 
insulting,  in  the  grossest  manner,  the  majority  of  an  entire 
kingdom,  as  if  they  were  a  group  of  African  slaves  on  a 
West  India  plantation,  under  the  lash  of  a  brutal  driver — 
when,  on  the  other  hand,  we  are  told  in  the  most  public 
manner,  that  we  have  dispensations  and  absolutions  for  the 
commission  of  all  sorts  of  crimes,  I  feel  such  a  conflict  within 
myself,  that  I  am  obliged  to  summon  up  all  my  religion, 
lest  I  should  yield  to  the  temptation  of  hating  a  man  I  am 
bound  to  forgive.  I  am  at  a  loss  which  to  admire  most  of 
the  two,  either  the  power  of  conscience  over  the  heart 
of  man,  or  the  unaccountable  stupidity,  the  perverse  and 
wilful  blindness  of  any  person  who  claims  the  slightest  pre- 
tention to  reason  or  good  sense,  and  yet  seriously  thinks 
that  unprincipled  men,  licenced  by  their  religious  princi- 
ples, and  authorized  by  their  clergy  to  commit  all  sorts  of 
crimes,  could  hesitate  one  instant  to  have  recourse  to  so 
slight  a  remedy  as  an  oath  to  remove  every  grievance,  and 
silence  every  obloquy. 

The  feelings  of  honour,  the  pride  of  rank,  the  allurements 
of  fortune  and  dignities,  every  impulse  of  the  human  heart, 
and  all  the  motives  that  influence  man  as  a  member  of 
society,  call  aloud  on  us  to  remove  the  disgraceful  restraints 
that  expose  us  to  such  humiliations  and  obloquy.  And 
yet,  with  the  remedy  in  our  hands,  the  churches  open, 
and  this  pretended  stock  of  absolutions,  which,  according  to 
the  report  of  slander,  would  sanctify  all  sorts  of  crimes,  we 
keep  at  a  distance  from  the  temple  of  fame,  power,  and 
splendour. 

When   the  Pagans  accused   the   primitive  Christians  of 


374  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

eating  children  at  their  religious  assemblies,  and  rising  after 
supper  to  conclude  all  in  the  confusion  of  incest,  Tertullien 
addressed  his  apology  to  the  Roman  senate,  and  calls  upon 
them  to  prove  the  truth  of  the  fact.  He  appeals  afterwards 
to  the  feelings  of  humanity,  common  to  Pagans  and  Chris- 
tians, whether  such  crimes  could  be  the  religion  of  any  so- 
ciety of  mortals.  O,  said  he,  wliat  immortal  glory  would  a 
pro-consul  gain,  could  he  pull  out  a  Christian  by  the  ears, 
that  had  eat  up  an  hundred  children.  But  we  despair  of  any 
such  glorious  discovery. 

I  call  aloud  upon  the  Viceroys  of  Ireland,  their  Secretaries, 
and  the  Judges  of  the  land,  to  name  or  to  recollect  one  single 
instance  in  which  a  crime,  murder  or  felony  has  been  com- 
mitted, in  consequence  of  a  priestly  absolution.  Where  was 
the  gallows  erected,  on  the  branches  of  which  the  absolved 
murderer  and  die  absolving  priest  were  suspended  together — 
the  one  the  perpetrator,  the  other  the  instigator  of  the  crime  ? 
Or  where  is  that  nation  on  earth,  even  in  times  of  Paganism, 
where  the  religion  of  the  people  authorized  the  commission 
W  all  sorts  of  crimes  ? 

The  Romans,  who  worshipped  an  adulterous  Jupiter,  yet 
punished  adultery  by  the  Julian  law.  The  Senator  who  had 
offered  incense  to  Bacchus,  could  not  abide  his  wife  when  he 
discovered  that  her  breath  was  too  fragrant  with  the  flavour 
of  wine.  The  impure  Venus  was  a  goddess  worshipped  by 
the  matrons  of  ancient  Rome,  yet  Lucretia  was  chaste.  The 
civil  magistrate  punished  on  earth  the  crimes  that  were  wor- 
shipped in  heaven.  There  exists  then  in  the  heart  of  man  a 
law  which  points  out  to  him,  according  to  the  Apostle,  his 
moral  duty — an  innate  principle  of  justice  and  goodness,  by 
which,  even  in  spite  of  the  false  maxims  of  his  worship,  the 
unregenerate  Pagan  condemned  the  immoral  actions  of  him- 
self  and  others. 

The  Catholics  of  Ireland,  natives  of  a  nation  of  heroes 
and  an  island  of  saints,  are  they  to  form  the  most  singular 
of  all  exceptions  to  the  maxims  of  nature,  by  not  only 
sanctifying  crimes,  but  by  also  making  them  a  saleable 
commodity  ? 

We  who  spend  our  time  in  enforcing  the  maxims  of  the 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACES.  375 

Gospel,  one  of  whose  principal  laws  is  a  law  of  eternal  love  : 
who  teach  our  flocks  to  relieve  the  distressed,  without  dis- 
tinction of  sects  or  countries,  to  return  good  for  evil — to  dis- 
cover a  brother  in  the  face  of  an  enemy — to  embrace  afflic- 
tion—to smile  under  calamity — to  pluck  out  the  eye  that 
gives  offence— to  cut  off  the  hand  that  scandalizes — to  re- 
nounce all  the  honours,  riches,  and  pleasures  of  the  world, 
when  they  cannot  be  attained  but  at  the  risk  of  the  soul,  and 
to  consider  death  in  grace  as  a  passage  to  a  glorious  and 
blissful  eternity. 

Are  we  such  monsters  as  to  be  slaves  to  tenets  so  abhor- 
rent to  human  nature  ? 

I  imagined,  my  Lords,  that  the  solemn  oaths  and  decla- 
rations of  the  Catholics  of  those  kingdoms,  and  their  renun- 
ciation of  these  privileges  and  rights,  to  which  they  would  be 
otherwise  entitled,  rather  than  swear  against  their  consciences, 
had  sufficiently  refuted  accusations,  at  which  nature  recoils 
and  shrinks  with  horror  :  but  to  our  astonishment  and  sur- 
prise, our  creed  is  not  learned  from  ourselves.  More  credit 
is  given  to  a  fanatical  geographer  called  Guthrie,  than  to  our 
oaths,  or  the  writings  of  our  doctors.  In  this  theological 
sum,  our  divinity  is  chiefly  studied,  and  Guthrie  informs 
his  readers,  that  he  has  extracted  from  a  book  called : 
Rome, -the  Great  Custom- House  of  sin,  translated  into  Eng- 
lish 150  years  ago,  the  fees  of  the  Pope's  Chancery  for  abso- 
lutions. He  might  have  said,  instead  of  translated  into 
English,  composed  in  English  originally.  I  never  read  such 
a  book  in  the  canon  law,  nor  such  fees  amongst  the  rules  of 
the  Pope's  Chancery ;  however,  he  classes  the  fees  in  the 
following  order.* 

For  him  who  stole  consecrated  things  in  a  holy  place,  ten 
shillings  and  six -pence. 

For  him  who  lays  with  a  woman  in  a  church,  nine  shillings. 
For  him  that  killeth  father,  mother,   wife  or  sister,  ten 
shillings. 

For  him  that  layeth  with  his  mother,   sister,  or  grand- 
mother, seven  shillings  and  six-pence. 

*  Guthrie's    Geographical    Grammar,    sixteenth   edition,    corrected  and   cib.igei. 
London,  printed  1796. 

3c 


376  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

This  is  the  cheapest  bargain  a  pious  customer  could  ex- 
pect, and  I  think  there  is  good  profit  in  dealing  with  the 
Pope,  as  a  great  number  of  other  sins  are  not  taxed  at  all, 
such  as  sleeping  with  a  neighbour's  wile,  stealing  a  fat  ox, 
&c.  These  are  only  as  a  few  grains  thrown  into  the  scale, 
when  a  person  buys  some  pounds  of  sugar  in  a  grocer's  shop. 
They  are  but  peccadillos  or  trifles.  It  appears,  however, 
that  the  Pope's  are  but  bad  financiers  in  not  increasing  the 
custom-house  duties  in  the  space  of  about  150  years,  whereas 
every  article  costs  now  treble  what  it  cost  then ;  but  espe- 
cially, as  things  rise  in  value,  according  to  the  rarity,  the 
Pope's  custom  rates  were  ill  regulated  in  not  charging  six- 
pence or  a  shilling  more  for  the  grandmother  than  for  the 
sister  or  grand-daughter,  as  most  certainly  an  old  Hebe,  the 
grandmother  of  the  graces,  is  a  greater  rarity  than  a  young 
woman  or  grand-daughter.  In  vain  should  we  attempt  to 
disclaim  this  ludricous  and  impious  creed.  The  public  are 
so  iccustomed  to  slander  and  misrepresentation,  that  few 
will  believe  us. 

The  rules  of  the  Roman  Chancery,  Regulce  Cancellaricc, 
regard  benefices,  the  temporalities  of  vacant  bishoprics,  and 
other  ecclesiastical  matters,  partly  spiritual,  partly  temporal, 
according  to  concordatums  or  stipulations  between  the 
Apostolical  See,  and  Catholic  Princes.  The  incests  and 
sacrileges  above  mentioned,  instead  of  being  compounded 
for  money,  would  be  punished  with  death  on  the  rack  or 
wheel,  after  making  the  amende  honorable,  with  a  lighted 
taper  held  by  the  criminal,  on  his  knees  before  the  door  of 
the  church  where  the  sacrilege  had  been  committed.  Sixtus 
Quintus  condemned  to  the  gallies,  for  the  space  of  five  years, 
a  nobleman  for  raising  the  veil  of  a  lady  whom  he  met  in  the 
street,  and  giving  her  a  kiss.  And  in  vain  did  a  polygamist 
plead  that  he  was  unfortunate  in  each  of  his  wives,  and  for  that 
reason  changed  them  in  expectation  of  finding  one  that  would 
please  him. 

As  it  is  so  hard  to  please  you  in  this  world,  replied  the 
stern  Pontiff",  there  are  more  women  in  the  other  world,  you 
must  go  there  to  find  one  to  your  liking — ordered  him  to  be 
tried  and  executed. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  37/ 

Thus,  if  Rome  be  the  great  custom-house  of  sins,  a  Lon- 
don printer's  office  is  the  great  custom-house  of  false  creeds 
and  fictitious    absolutions,    for  real  absolutions  can  never  be 
granted  but  upon  sincere  repentance,  which  requires  three 
indispensable  conditions :  a  sincere   sorrow  for  past  sins,  a 
firm  resolution  to  guard  against  future  lapses,    and  every 
atonement  in  our  power  to  the  injured   Deity   and  the  in- 
jured neighbour.     Without  these  conditions  absolutions  are 
no  more  than  the  mutterings  of  sorcerers,  or  words  of  incan- 
tion  pronounced  over  a  dead  body,   without  ever   impart- 
ing to  it  the  genial  heat  of  animation    and  vitality.     The 
ministers  of  religion  can  do  no  more    than   God    has    an- 
nexed  to   their  commissions;    and  the   Scriptures  declare, 
that  God    will    never  forgive    the   sinner  without    sorrow 
and  repentance,  which  implies  a  purpose  of  amendment  for 
life. 

Sacramental  confession  then,  and  priestly  absolution,  in- 
stead of  being  an  encouragement  to  sin,  are  in  the  Catholic 
religion  the  greatest  restraints  on  the  passions,  The  worst 
and  most  immoral  Catholics  are  those  who  neglect  them, 
because  they  prefer  their  passions  to  their  duty.  And  if  it 
be  asked,  why  have  recourse  to  those  religious  rites,  whereas 
people  may  sin  afterwards  ? 

The  reason  is  :  because  man  in  this  life  is  not  impeach- 
able, on  account  of  the  changeableness  and  inconstancy  of 
his  will.  All  he  can  do  is  to  form  the  strongest  resolutions, 
to  lay  hold  on  the  means,  which  in  his  belief,  God  has  ap- 
pointed for  his  sanctification,  and  to  recommend  himself  to 
infinite  mercy.  Hence  the  caution  given  by  the  Apostle, 
Wherefore  let  him  that  thinketh  he  standeth,  take  heed 
lest  he  fall. 

God  has  promised  to  receive  the  sinner  whenever  he 
would  return,  without  limiting  the  number  of  times.  Yet 
to  sin  in  expectation  of  forgiveness,  would  be  the  most  un- 
justifiable presumption.  Mercy  is  not  to  be  abused,  nor  is 
Divine  Justice  to  be  provoked  by  new  prevarications  and 
new  crimes.  For  there  are  times  when  the  measure  is  filled 
up,  and  fatal  limits,  beyond  which  paternal  goodness  does 
not  extend. 


373  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

Were  priestly  abolution,  which  is  founded  on  the  power 
granted  by  Christ  to  remit  sins  to  the  penitent  sinner,  a 
license  for  guilt,  it  would  be  unjust  to  charge  it  on  the  Ca- 
tholics alone — Lutherans,  Greeks!,  Armenians,  ah  branches 
of  the  Christian  religion,  except  Calvinists,  and  the  modern 
sectaries  sprung  from  that  stock,  acknowledge  this  power. 
The  Church  of  England,  in  her  liturgy,  recommends,  ac- 
knowledges it,  and  lays  down  the  form  of  absolution  in  the 
very  same  words  used  by  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  The 
Jaws  of  the  state  sanction  the  inviolable  secresy  which  is  ob- 
served, when  the  sinner,  loaded  with  guilt,  lays  open  his 
hidden  sores  to  his  spiritual  physician  ;  whereas  the  laws  do 
not  allow  that  what  is  toid  in  confession  should  be  adduced 
in  evidence  on  a  trial ;  and  by  a  statute  passed  in  the  reign 
of  James  I.  the  minister  is  degraded  for  ever,  if  he  reveals 
the  confession  of  his  penitent.  But  the  ill-fated  Catholic  is 
the  expiatory  victim  on  whose  head  all  the  iniquities  of  the 
nation  are  laid ;  and  what  is  harmless  in  others,  is  criminal 
in  him.* 

It  is  painful  in  me,  my  Lords,  thus  to  intrude  on  your 
time.  It  is  the  more  painful,  as  after  so  many  proofs  of  the 
loyalty,  the  piety,  the  zeal,  and  exertions  of  the  Catholic 
prelates  and  pastors  of  Ireland,  in  the  critical  circumstances, 
when  there  was  no  room  for  dissimulation,  or  a  trimming, 
fluctuating  conduct,  threats  should  be  held  out  for  the  abo- 
lition of  their  priesthood,  as  the  nursery  of  crimes,  felonies, 
and  murders. 

In  addition  to  these  threats,  by  a  man  of  consequence,  on 
the  eve  of  a  union  which  they  imagined  was  to  close  the 
penal  code  with  the  sevenfold  seal  of  eternal  silence  ;  and  at 
the  very  threshold  of  the  Temple  of  Concord,  they  and  their 
flocks  are  justly  alarmed  to  see  the  pages  of  the  mysterious 


*  I  do  not  write  in  this  address  hs  a  controvertisr,  or  polemical  divine;  I  only  ex- 
pound the  Catholic  belief,  so  often  and  so  grossly  misrepresented,  and  whose  ministers 
are  exposed  to  obloquy  on  account  of  pretended  absolution. 

The  primitive  fathers,  in  addressing  their  apologies  to  a  pagan -senate,  explained 
their  belief,  to  vindicate  it  from  misrepresentation.  I  have  every  confidence  that  a  Chris* 
nan  senate  will  not  be  less  indulgent  to  a  Christian  Clergyman. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  379 

book,  in  which,  like  that  mentioned  by  the  Prophet,  are 
written  so  many  lamentations  and  woes,  unfolded  by  a  mem- 
ber of  the  British  House  of  Commons,  for  the  purpose  of 
knowing  whether  there  be  any  more  penal  clauses  wanting, 
in  order  to  make  up  the  deficiency,  by  enacting  a  new  law 
which  hereafter  may  afflict  their  children  and  relatives.  I 
mean,  my  Lords,  Sir  Henry  Mildmay's  bill,  relative  to  what 
is  called  Monastic  Institutions. 

From  a  coincidence  of  circumstances  it  seems  to  appear, 
that  the  idea  has  been  suggested  to  that  gentleman,  in  con- 
sequence of  a  very  uninteresting  dispute  betweeu  two  very 
learned,  and  in  all  other  respects  very  amiable  ecclesiastics, 
Doctor  Sturges,  a  prebendary  of  Winchester,  and  Doctor 
Milner,  a  Catholic  historian,  and  member  of  the  Society  of 
Antiquarians,  about  Bishop  Hoadley's  writings. 

Mr.  Milner  has  published  a  very  learned  and  curious 
history  of  Winchester,  under  the  successive  dynasties  of 
British,  Saxon,  and  English  kings,  from  the  earliest  records 
of  time,  down  to  our  days.  As  an  antiquarian,  he  describes 
the  monuments  of  worthies  buried  in  the  Cathedral ;  as  a 
historian,  he  draws  their  characters.  It  is  too  voluminous 
to  read  by  any  but  a  few  rich,  who  can  purchase  it.  It  is 
out  of  the  reach  of  the  generality  of  the  English  nation,  who 
would  be  more  pleased  with  Fielding's  Torn  Jones,  or  Jo- 
nathan Wild :  though  it  for  ever  ranks  Mr.  Milner  in  the 
first  class  of  the  literar  v  characters  of  the  age,  and  should 
rather  procure,  him  the  thanks  of  the  inhabitants  of  Win- 
chester, for  having  rescued  the  history  of  their  city  from  the 
mist  and  rubbish  of  antiquity,  and  given  such  elegant  en- 
gravings of  their  monuments,  than  the  animadversions  of 
some  of  its  ecclesiastical  dignitaries. 

Unfortunately  for  some  English  ladies,  who,  in  their  early 
days,  had  made  vows  of  celibacy  in  France  and  Flanders, 
and  had  taken  refuge  in  their  native  land,  from  the  poniards 
guillotines  of  French  assassins,  the  antiquarian,  after  describ- 
ing the  monuments  of  several  illustrious  men  in  succession, 
came  to  that  of  Bishop  Hoadley.  This  prelate,  to  the  ex- 
ception of  his  moral  character,  which  was  spotless,  might 
have  been  called  the  Perigord  or  Gregoire  of  his  time,  with 


330  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

regard  to  his  theological  principles  in  ecclesiastical  matters, 
submitting  religion  to  the  civil  magistrates.  &c.  A  repre- 
sentation was  drawn  up  against  him,  and  his  writings,  by 
the  lower  House  of  Convocation  in  1717,  as  tending:  to  sub- 
vert  all  government  and  discipline  in  the  church  of  Christ, 
and  to  reduce  it  to  a  state  of  anarchy,  and  confusion  :  and 
as  making  void  those  powers  with  which  he  himself  was 
vested,  and  which  he  was  bound  to  exercise  in  conferring: 
order?,  inflicting  censures,  &c. 

The  ministry  of  the  day,  with  whom  Bishop  Hoadley  was 
a  favourite,  dissolved  the  Convocation,  prevented  the  re- 
presentation from  being  carried  to  the  Bishops  in  the  higher 
house,  and  thus  dispersed  the  clouds  that  were  thickening 
over  Bishop  Hoadley's  head. 

In  describing  his  menumeati  as  an  antiquarian,  it  was  na- 
tural for  Mr.  Milner  to  draw  the  prelate's  character  as  a 
historian ;  and  to  represent  him  in  attitude  analogous  to  his 
principles,  with  the  Bible  in  one  hand,  and  Magna  Charta 
in  the  other;  the  mitre  and  the  cap  of  liberty  in  contact; 
the  crozier  and  the  pike  set  in  saltire,  or  crossing  each  other. 
Mr.  Milner  complaining  that  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  ca- 
thedral of  Winchester,  was  cut  too  great  a  depth  to  make 
place  for  Bishop  Hoadley's  monument,  adds,  thus  Bishop 
Hoadley,  both  living  and  dead,  undermined  the  church  of 
which  he  had  been  a  prelate.* 

Doctor  Sturges,  as  he  himself  acknowledges,  had  been 
under  particular  obligations  to  Bishop  Hoadley,  and  in  all 
appearance  had  imbibed,  if  not  all,  at  least  the  best  of  his 
opinions.  Gratitude  and  friendship,  two  of  the  human  vir- 
tues the  most  congenial  to  our  feelings  as  men,  but  often  hur- 
rying us  into  excesses  which  we  cannot  canonize  as  Chris- 
tians, warmed  Dr.  Sturges'  breast  in  such  a  manner,  that 
he  imparted  a  congenial  heat  to  the  embers  of  the  dead,  and 
reproduced  on  the  stage  a  character,  who,  notwithstanding 
the  change  of  scenes,  will  ever  and  invariably  play  the  same 
part,  which  to  confuse  and  perplex,  to  have  friends  and 
foes,  and  to  leave  the  following  problem  to  solve  :  Whether 

*  Milaer's  Survey  of  Winchester. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACT*.  381 

he  was  really  and  in  his  heart,  a  professor  of  the  thirty-nine 
articles,  one  of  which  determines  with  the  Catholic  church, 
the  institution  of  Bishops,  jure  divino  f  Or  whether  he  was 
one  of  those  accommodating  sages,  who,  like  the  philosopher 
of  old,  laid  down  as  a  rule,  that  a  wise  man  should  have  two 
religions,  one  for  himself,  and  another  for  the  country  and 
time  in  which  he  lives  ?  The  solution  of  this  problem,  I 
leave  to  Doctor  Sturges  and  Mr.  Milner. 

It  is  a  problem,  the  solution  whereof  concerns  no  more  the 
present  generation  than  the  religion  of  Grotius,  on  which  the 
famous  Bossuet  has  written  a  dissertation. 

Few  persons  read  Hoadley,  whose  style  is  so  incoherent 
and  unentertaining,  that  Pope,  in  allusion  to  the  length  of  his 
periods,  said  Hoadley  walks  a  mile.  To  it  can  be  applied 
the  remark  of  a  Roman  Kmperor  on  the  style  of  Seneca  : 
*  arena  sine  calse,  sand  without  cement.'  Doctor  Sturges, 
however,  took  offence  at  the  character  Mr.  Milner  had  drawn 
of  his  favourite  bishop,  and  instead  of  confining  himself  in 
point  to  the  dispute,  adopted  the  most  effectual  method  of 
rallying  round  his  standard  a  host  of  confederates,  by 
making  a  general  cause  of  it  and  publishing  a  work  under  the 
title  of  Reflections  on  Popery ;  a  theme  so  often  enlarged  on 
pro  and  con  by  the  most  eminent  men  the  world  has  ever 
produced,  that  it  is  impossible  to  say  any  thing  new  on  the 
subject. 

Mr.  Milner,  as  an  historian,  depicted  the  eminent  men  of 
religious  orders,  who  had  reflected  lustre  on  the  church  of 
Winchester,  in  the  same  colours  that  any  impartial  Protestant 
historian  would  have  done,  as  several  of  them  have.  He 
does  the  same  justice  to  such  of  the  Protestant  Bishops  of 
Winchester,  as  deserved  to  have  their  birth,  education, 
learning,  and  virtues  celebrated. 

Doctor  Sturges,  inattentive  to  the  labours  and  learning  of 
the  members  of  religious  orders,  who  have  preserved  the 
literary  monuments  of  ancient  times  from  the  ravages  of 
Goths  and  Vandals — followed  the  sun  in  its  course  in  con- 
verting  barbarous  nations— carried  the  light  of  the  Gospel 
into  those  distant  climes  unknown  to  the  conquerors  of  the 
ancient  and  new  world — brought  Europe  acquainted  with  the 
natural  productions,  the  laws,  the  manners,  customs,  religions, 


382  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

and  geography  of  the  remotest  regions,  and  enriched  the  re* 
public  of  letters  with  the  treasures  of  literature  both  ancient 
and  modern.  He  overlooks  the  benefits  they  have  conferred 
on  the  world,  in  their  fasts  and  celibacy,  which  he  attacks 
with  as  much  vehemence  and  zeal  as  Salvian  attacks  the  vices 
and  disorders  of  his  time, 

The  prayers,  mortification,  penance  of  monastic  institu- 
tions, all  must  yield  with  Doctor  Sturges  to  the  irresistible 
impulse  of  nature.  The  impulse  of  nature — the  source  of 
all  our  disorders  and  miseries,  which  all  legislators  on  earth 
made  it  their  constant  study  to  restrain  by  Jaws  and  punish- 
ments. What  made  an  adulterer  of  David  ?  The  impulse 
of  nature. An  incestuous  of  Amnon  ?  The  impulse  of  na- 
ture.  A  rebel  of  Absolem  ?    The  impulse  of  nature.- ■ 

A   murderer  of  Cain?     The  impulse  of  nature. What 

gives  employment  to  the  canonists  and  civilians  of  Doctors 
Commons,   in  arguing  the  cases  of  divorce  ?      The  impulse 

of  nature. What  peoples  London  with  so  many  votaries 

of  the  Cyprian  Goddess  ?     The  impulse  of  nature. What 

is  it  that  brought  the  impure  spirit  into  the  body  of  that  man, 
concerning  whom  our  Saviour  said,  there  is  a  kind  of  devil 
which  cannot  be  cast  out,  but  by  prayer  and  fasting  ?  The 
impulse  of  nature.  His  zeal  against  celibacy,  and  mortifica- 
tion, hurries  him  into  such  extremes  that  he  blames  Mr. 
Milner  for  being  so  lavish  in  his  encomiums  on  the  Pro- 
testant Bishops  of  Winchester,  the  most  distinguished  for 
their  virtues,  though  Mr.  Milner  quotes  their  monumental 
inscriptions,  recorded  by  Protestant  authors,  such  as  Bishop 
Andrews,  who  lived  in  a  state  of  celibacy.  Ccelcbs  hinc, 
migravit  ad  aurlolam  celestem,  and  Bishop  Morley,  amongst 
whose  many  virtues  is  reckoned  the  austerity  of  his  life, 
eating  but  once  in  twenty-four  hours,  and  rising  every 
morning  in  the  coldest  weather  and  without  a  fire,  at  five 
o'clock. 

He  is  never  more  eloquent,  than  when  he  declaims  against 
fast  and  celibacy.  In  support  of  his  arguments  against  celi- 
bacy, he  quotes  Lucretius,  an  Epicurinn  poet  and  philosopher, 
who  invokes  Venus,  the  Goddess  of  lust ;  and  Walter  de 
Mapes,  an  unchaste  boa  vivant,  who  wrote  doggerel  verses 
in  latin  in  the  twelfth  century. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  383 

Mcum  est  pioposituui  in  taberna  mori. 
Viuum  sit  appositum  morientus  ori.* 

They  are  certainly  the  best  authorities  he  could  quote 
against  virginal  chastity,  and  the  mortification  of  the  senses. 
For  he  could  not  quote  Saint  Paul  or  the  fathers  against 
either  one  or  the  other.  If  Saint  Jerome  were  living,  he 
would  write  an  epistle  to  Doctor  Sturges  with  the  same 
warmth,  with  which  he  wrote  to  Vigilanlius. 

The  Doctor  has  reserved  Bishop  Hoadley's  apology  for  an 
appendix,  in  which  he  makes  use  of  words,  which,  from  Mr. 
Milner  or  me,  would  render  us  obnoxious  to  the  Bishops  of 
both  persuasions. 

They  are  the  following  :—As  an  Ecclesiastic,  he  (Bishop 
Hoadley)  ivithstood  the  high  pretensions  of  great  part  of  the 
Clergy— pretensions  unauthorised  by  reason,  maintained  by  a 
violent  party  spirit,  and  often  employed  in  the  most  tumultuary 
and  factious  purposes  to  which  the  cry  of  the  church  was  made 
subservient.  This  cry,  which  he  does  not  seem  to  approve 
in  the  hierarchy,  soon  became  the  cry  of  some  of  the  preben- 
daries of  Winchester,  and  from  them  the  cry  of  the  public 
papers. 

On  Mr.  Milner' s  reply,  in  which  there  is  a  dissertation  on 
Bishop  Hoadley's  principles  and  writings,  letters  were  writ- 
ten, and  deputations  sent  to  some  Members  of  Parliament. 
Sir  Henry  Mildmay  brings  in  a  Bill  for  the  suppression  of 
Monastic  Institutions,  the  very  words  of  Doctor  Sturges. 
One  would  imagine  that  there  was  a  kind  of  confederacy 
amongst  some  of  the  editors  of  the  public  papers  to  ring  the 
alarm.  Not  a  single  paragraph  could  I  have  seen  in  any  of 
them  in  contradiction  to  exaggerated  falsehoods.  Two 
thousand  of  the  common  people,  chiefly  servant  maids,  were 
converted  by  the  French  Clergy  in  one  part  of  London,  in  the 
space  of  two  years ;  that  is  to  say,  more  than  all  the  Catholic 
Clergy  of  England  have  converted  since  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth. 

The  French  clergy,  mostly  half  starved  and  half  naked 
poor  people,  in  spite  of  the  generosity  of  government,  on 
account  of  the  smallness  of  their  allowance,  and  the  dearth 
of  provisions,  are  ill  qualified  for  making  converts.  They 
sleep  five  or  six,  or  by  trios,  in  poor  places   that   cannot 

*  Others  are  of  opinioD,  that  de  Mapes  is  not  the  anther. 


381  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

afford  to  have  servant  maids :  they  do  not  know  English- 
servant  maids  do  not  know  French.  These  poor  priests 
make  their  own  beds,  and  cook  their  own  soup  and  vege- 
tables. I  have  preached  in  the  chapels  in  London  near  twelve 
years,  and  I  have  not  reconciled  one  single  servant  maid  to 
the  Catholic  Church.  More  of  them  are  debauched  in 
London  in  one  month,  than  will  be  converted  in  ten  thou- 
sand years.  It  were  much  better  they  were  converted  than 
cast  on  die  town  :  and  little  v/ould  the  state  suffer  if  a  Lon- 
don cinder-woman  embraced  the  religion  of  so  many  em- 
presses and  queens. 

Popery  is  increasing  in  the  diocese  of  Chester,  said  another, 
where  forty  thousand  three  hundred  and  thirty-three  persons 
never  go  to  any  religious  worship.  But  Popery  increases 
under  the  influence  of  fifty  thousand  Priests,  all  men  of 
talents.  That  is  to  say,  more  Priests  than  all  the  Bishops  of 
Europe  have  ordained  in  twenty  years.  Such  are  the  methods 
used  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  operation  of  a  bill  which  has 
for  its  object  a  restraint  on  the  freedom  of  the  will  of  a  Ca- 
tholic woman,  who  perhaps  if  she  lived  b  the  world  would 
bring  scandal  on  her  family. 

There  cannot,  my  Lords,  be  any  monastic  institutions  in 
England  under  the  existing  laws,  if  there  were  as  many 
women  who  would  live  in  celibacy  as  there  are  bad  women 
in  London.  For  a  monastic  institution  requires  a  monastery 
endowed,  and  the  sanction  of  the  laws  of  the  state  to  render 
the  vows  of  the  religious  irrevocable ;  as  in  Catholic  coun- 
tries, where,  if  a  priest  marries,  or  a  religious  deserts  his 
cioister,  he  is  punished  by  the  civil  magistrate,  or  sent  back 
to  his  superior  to  be  punished  as  an  apostate.  Hence,  when 
the  monastic  institutions  were  dissolved  in  England,  the  vow 
of  celibacy  still  remained.  And  Henry  the  Eighth,  who  sent 
the  Lady  Abbess's  gold  cross  to  the  mint,  would  have  doomed 
her  body  to  the  fagot  or  halter,  had  he  perceived  the  bridal 
ring  on  her  finger. 

The  Legislature  of  ninety-one  made  this  distinction  in  the 
toleration- granted  to  the  Catholics:  it  removed  the  penalties 
which  attached  to  those  who  would  enter  into  any  ecclesi- 
astical community  of  the  church  of  Rome,  but  not  to  extend 
to  monastic  institutions ;  that  is  to  say,  not  to  endow  mo- 
nasteries,  or  incorporate  their  rules,  such  as  they   are  in 


MISCELLANEOUS  TRACTS.  &S5 

Catholic  countries,  with  the  laws  of  the  state,  where  they 
are  never  to  marry,  nor  return  to  the  world  :  whereas  here 
they  are  at  liberty  to  renounce  their  vows  when  they  think 
fit,  and  sue  for  their  share  of  their  family  inheritance,  not 
being  here  as  elsewhere,  dead  in  law.  What  are  then  the 
few  English  nuns  now  in  England,  or  the  few  Irish  nuns  in 
Ireland,  for  no  ladies  of  any  other  country  devote  themselves 
there  to  a  religious  life  ?  What  are  they  in  the  eyes  of  the 
law  ?  What  are  they  in  the  eyes  of  any  man  who  pays  the 
slightest  attention  to  the  subject  ?  A  few  Catholic  females, 
vjho,  from  devotion,  form  a  resolution  to  die  old  maids,  and, 
when  tired  of  celibacy,  can  marry  in  spite  of  Pope  or  Bishop, 
as  there  are  some  clergymen  in  this  kingdom  and  in  Ireland, 
who,  after  officiating  at  Catholic  altars,  have  taken  wives  to 
themselves,  and  exchanged  sacerdotal  cincture  for  the  cestus 
of  Venus. 

If  these  ladies  were  ladies  of  pleasure  seducing  youth  ;  the 
gentlemen  of  Winchester  would  not  give  themselves  the 
slightest  concern  about  them.  They  are  of  the  greatest  use 
to  the  Catholic  nobility  and  gentry,  who  send  their  daughters 
to  be  educated  by  them,  on  account  of  the  strictness  of  their 
morals,  their  seclusion  from  the  dissipations  of  the  world, 
which  affords  them  the  more  time  to  superintend  the  instruc- 
tion of  their  scholars,  and  the  facility  of  observing  the  spiri- 
tual exercises  peculiar  to  the  Catholic  religion,  such  as  fasts, 
abstinence,  confessions,  communications,  &c.  which  could 
not  be  observed  at  other  boarding  schools ;  and  which, 
though  they  may  appear  ridiculous  to  others,  are  held  sacred 
by  us.  In  Galway,  in  Ireland,  there  are  ladies  of  this  descrip- 
tion, since  the  conversion  of  the  kingdom  to  Christianity  in 
the  fourth  century.  The  parliament,  however  rigorous 
in  angry  times,  never  molested  them,  on  account  of  their 
utility,  by  their  instructions,  besides  the  policy  of  spending 
their  money  in  the  country.  For  if  there  were  not  ladies  of 
this  description  in  the  country,  the  Catholics  would  send  their 
daughters  to  be  educated  abroad. 

But  the  nuns  of  this  country  pervert  the  children  of  Pro- 
testants, and  the  French  Clergy  make  converts. 

Every  inquiry  has  been  made,  and  the  challenge  given  to 
prove  the  allegation.  The  inquiry  proved  fruitless,  and  the 
challenge  reiused.  Upon  inquiry  it  was  found,  that  a 
Scotch  lady  and  gentleman,   going  to   some  distant  part, 


386  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

left  their  child  in  the  care  of  these  religious  women,  until 
their  return.     They  could  not  have  left  her  in  better  hands  ; 
for  some  of  these  ladies  make  a  vow  to  attend  the  sick, 
without  distinction  between  Turk  and  Christian.     Parents 
have  a  right  to  leave   their   children  where  they  think  fit. 
They  take  no  Protestant  boarders  or  scholars.     They  had 
at  their  school  two  young  misses,  whose  father  was  a  Catho- 
lic, and  the  mother  a  Protestant.     A  father  has  a  natural 
right  over  his  children.     For  this  reason  we  never  baptize 
the  children  of  Quakers  or  Jews,  without  the  consent  of 
their  fathers.     If  they  were  dying,  beyond  hope  of  recovery, 
we  would  not  scruple  to  baptize,  for  death  emancipates  them. 
The  father,  whose  name  was  Counsellor  Sheridan,  died  last 
year :  the  mother  took  the  children  from  Winchester,  and 
sent  them  to  a  Protestant  boarding-school.     It  was  also  found 
upon  inquiry,   that  an  Irish  regiment,   in  which  there  are  a 
great  many  Catholic  soldiers,  was  quartered  at  Winchester. 
By  an  act  of  the  Irish  Legislature,  the  Catholics  of  Ireland 
can  enter  into  the  army,   and  make  an  open  profession  of 
their  faith,  and  perform  their  religious  worship.     A  brave 
man,   who  exposes  his  life  for  his  king  and  country,  is  en- 
titled to  the  privilege  of  saying  his  prayers.     The  Abbot  of 
Saint    Galles,  a  Dominican  Friar,    and    Sovereign   Prince, 
has    Caivinist  regiments,    and    Calvinist   chaplains   in   his 
service  ;  and  as  there  are  such  numbers  of  Irish  Catholics  in 
his  Majesty's  armies,  but  especially  in  the  navy,  an  edifying 
Catholic    chaplain    would    contribute    greatly   to    prevent 
amongst  them  the  contagion  of  immorality  and  Jacobinism. 
For  when  they  do  not  practise  their  own  religion,  they  will 
practise  no  other.     Upon  those  principles,  a  very  worthy 
French  clergyman,  who   has   acquired  some  smattering  of 
English,  instilled  into  the  minds  of  those  Catholic  soldiers 
the  principles  ofloyalty,  morality,  and  good  order.  And  such, 
my  Lords,  is  the  ground  of  all  this  clamour  about  Nuns, 
Conversions,  and  Popery. 

As  to  conversions — one  Catholic  lady,  of  an  edifying  life 
and  amiable  manners  in  the  world,  would  make  more  con- 
verts than  ten  thousand  cloisters.  And  of  all  religions  on 
earth  the  Catholic  religion  is  the  least  calculated  for  making 
converts  in  these  kingdoms,  on  account  of  the  severity  of  its 
rules.  It  is  not  such  an  easy  matter  to  prevail  on  a  volup- 
tuary to  fast  and  pray  ;  or  a  libertine  to  renounce  his  crimi- 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  387 

nal  pleasures ;  or  a  usurer,  and  others  accustomed  to  accu- 
mulate a  fortune  by  unlawful  means,  to  make  restitution  of 
ill-acquired  gain ;  or  a  married  man,  who  has  an  unfaithful 
wife,  to  live  as  chaste  as  a  vestal  in  a  cloister,  until  he  buries 
or  takes  her  back  to  his  bosom.  These  and  other  sacrifices 
must  be  made,  after  being  instructed  in  every  essential  point 
of  the  Catholic  doctrine.  All  the  sins  which  the  new  con- 
vert can  recollect  must  be  told  in  the  tribunal  of  penance, 
where  the  concealment  of  one  would  be  a  sacrilege. 

Let  the  sectaries  who  daily  spring  up  preach  this  doctrine 
— their  meeting-houses  will  be  deserted.  It  is  an  easy  mat- 
ter to  work  on  the  imagination,  and  to  pass  from  one  belief 
to  another,  when  a  person  has  no  fixed  standard  or  rule  :  but 
to  change  the  heart,  to  triumph  over  the  passions,  to  hate 
whatever  we  loved  before,  to  love  what  we  hated,  is  not  a 
change  so  easily  wrought.  Let  not  then  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, or  the  Prebendaries  of  Winchester,  be  alarmed  with 
the  number  of  conversions  made  by  nuns,  or  Catholic  mis- 
sionaries— we  have  more  than  enough  to  do,  in  keeping  our 
own  flocks  attentive  to  their  duty.  And,  unfortunately,  with 
regard  to  several  of  them,  we  can  say  with  the  prophet,  in 
vain  have  I  laboured.  Tom  Paine  has  made  more  converts 
in  the  three  kingdoms  in  three  years,  than  the  Catholic  cler- 
gy will  make  in  twenty  thousand. 

It  would  be  happy  for  the  kingdom  if  we  could  convert 
all  the  Infidels  and  fanatics  that  separate  every  day  from  the 
established  religion,  and  who,  if  an  opportunity  offered,  would 
bury  it  with  the  state  in  its  ruins,  as  in  Cromwell's  time.  In 
one  place  of  worship  Christ  is  expunged  out  of  their  creed. 
In  another,  the  Father  and  Holy  Ghost  are  denied,  and  Christ 
is  all — the  Father  and  Holy  Ghost  are  but  his  attributes. 
The  Catholic  priest,  who  believes  more  of  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles,  than  all  the  sectaries  in  England,  is  doomed  by 
law  to  death,  if  he  makes  of  a  Quaker  a  child  of  the  covenant 
by  baptism  ;  or  prevails  on  an  infidel  to  pray  to  Christ  who 
died  for  him.  If  the  Tiber  overflows  its  banks,  if  the  Nile 
sinks  below  its  usual  level,  if  the  plague  destroys,  if  famine 
devours,  said  Tertullian,  the  cry  is,  to  the  lions  with  the 
Christians.* — The  Catholic  is  the  only  obnoxious  being. 

Ireland,  my  Lords,  this  instant  resembles   a  sea  agitated 

*  Chiistianos  ad  leoneni. 


388  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS, 

after  a  violent  storm.  The  most  distant  idea  of  the  slightest 
penalty  on  the  score  of  conscience,  must  alarm  the  Catholics 
of  that  kingdom  ;  and  give  an  opportunity  to  others  to  repre- 
sent to  them,  that  the  British  Parliament  closing  with  a  new 
penal  law,  is  but  the  scene  of  a  tragedy  in  which  one  act 
leads  to  another  more  distressing ;  that  is  to  say,  that  this  is 
but  a  preliminary  to  some  other  law  more  oppressive,  when 
the  Imperial  Parliament  meets,  and  themselves  are  friendless 
on  a  distant  shore ;  whereas,  if  in  the  Irish  Parliament  there 
were  members  hostile  to  their  interests,  there  were  others  who 
pleaded  their  cause  ;  and  thus,  instead  of  an  enlargement  of 
privileges  they  will  have  nothing  to  expect  but  an  extension 
of  penalties ;  such  will  be  the  language  of  the  enemies  to  the 
Union. 

1  know  not,  my  Lords,  whether  this  paper  will  fall  into 
your  hands  before  the  Bill  is  disposed  of.  If  it  be  already 
passed  into  a  law,  I  disclaim  any  intention  whatever  to  cen- 
sure the  proceedings  of  the  Legislature  of  the  land,  but  shall, 
as  in  duty  bound,  submit  to  its  decisions.  But  if  it  be  pend- 
ing before  the  house,  self-defence  will,  I  hope,  justify  me  in 
deprecating  what  I  think  obnoxious,  and  will  answer,  in  my 
opinion,  no  end  but  that  of  creating  distrust  and  despon- 
dency. 

In  an  age  of  profligacy,  when  so  many  wise  and  virtuous 
Members  of  the  Legislature,  intended  to  introduce  a  new  law 
for  the  security  of  the  marriage  bed ;  when  divorces,  in- 
stead of  constant  affection,  are  the  frequent  fruits  of  matri- 
mony :  amidst  so  many  seminaries  of  lewdness,  and  cities  be- 
come, on  account  of  vice  and  corruption,  so  many  criminal 
Ninivites,  which  would  require  a  Jonas  to  induce  them 
to  repent  in  sackcloth  and  ashes;  streets  infested  with  lewd 
females  from  the  age  of  eleven  to  the  period  at  which  the 
effects  of  a  crime  that  carries  with  it  its  own  punishment, 
and  the  enormous  number  of  which  wretches,  a  magistrate 
who  has  written  a  book  on  the  Police  of  London,  computes 
at  fifty  thousand  annually  !  Amidst  such  scenes  of  vice,  is 
the  chastity  of  a  few  Catholic  women  an  object  of  so  alarm- 
ing a  nature,  as  to  deserve  the  attention  of  the  first  Senate 
on  earth,  especially  as  it  is  in  their  power  to  renounce 
their  state  of  celibacy  when  they  choose  ?  Perhaps  not  two 
hundred   of  them  would  bind  themselves  to  a  single  life, 


MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS.  398 

in  the  space  of  fifty  years.  If  their  number  were  multiplied 
to  ten  times,  or  to  a  thousand  times  more,  what  are  they 
when  compared  to  the  great  number  of  the  immoral  and 
unchaste  all  over  England  ?  About  twenty  or  thirty  atoms 
floating  on  the  surface  of  an  immense  ocean.  Rati  nantes  in- 
gurgite  vasto. 

Were  it  the  custom  amongst  Quakers,  Anabaptists,  Mo- 
ravians, or  any  other  sect  or  description  of  people,  to  have 
women  of  a  solitary  cast  or  disposition  of  mind  amongst 
them,  who  from  fanaticism  or  inclination,  would  choose  to 
lead  a  retired  life,  and  superintend  the  education  of  the 
females  of  their  sects,  Sir  Henry  Mildmay  would  rather 
admire  than  molest  them.  Why  then  harass,  perplex,  ex- 
pose to  the  insults  of  domiciliary  visits,  persons  of  the  Ca- 
tholic persuasion  ?  Why,  amongst  such  a  variety  of  sects, 
single  the  Catholics  out  as  the  objects  of  persecution? 
There  are  now  no  Catholic  Pretenders  to  the  Throne  ;  when 
there  were,  not  one  of  the  Catholics  of  Ireland  joined  them, 
although  they  raised  the  standard  twice  in  Scotland,  to 
assert  their  claim  to  the  British  Empire.  The  Pope,  from 
a  temporal  Prince,  is  reduced  to  his  primitive  state  of  a 
pious  and  edifying  Bishop,  when  he  was  powerfully  armed 
with  Peter's  keys  in  one  hand,  and  Paul's  sword  in  the 
other ;  when  in  consequence  of  temporal  claims,  such  as 
Peter's-pence,  &c.  the  gifts  of  former  Kings,  the  exercise 
and  authority  which  seemed  to  encroach  upon  the  civil 
power ;  the  Catholics  of  these  kingdoms  adhered  to  their 
allegiance,  and  repaired  to  the  banners  of  their  Sovereign. 
All  former  pretexts  for  persecution  being  done  away,  what 
cause  is  there  for  persecuting  us  now  ?  It  must  be  this 
pretended  creed  which  fanaticism  or  prejudice  has  fathered, 
and  which  our  hearts  and  actions  disclaim.  Priests  selling 
absolutions  for  all  sorts  of  crimes,  and  millions  of  Catholics 
deprived  of  their  civil  rights  on  the  score  of  conscience 
buying  them.  For  where  there  is  no  purchase,  there  is  no 
sale. 

Are  we  not  Adam's  children  ?  Have  not  the  Catholics 
the  same  sensations  of  pain  and  pleasure  as  other  men? 
Their  vices  and  virtues  do  not  they  run  in  the  same  channel 
with  those  of  their  Protestant  neighbours  ?  Are  they  not 
animated  with  the  same   desire    of  glory — allured  by  the 


390  MISCELLANEOUS    TRACTS. 

blandishments  of  pleasure — courted  by  the  charms  of 
riches — as  earnestly  inclined  to  the  enjoyment  of  ease 
and  opulence  ?  If  perjury  be  their  creed,  if  their  clergy 
be  endued  with  the  magic  power  of  sanctifying  crimes,  and 
wafting  their  flocks  to  heaven  on  the  wings  of  unrepented 
guilt,  why  do  not  they  glide  down  the  stream  of  legal 
liberty,  instead  of  stemming  the  torrent  of  oppression  ?  Why 
do  not  they  qualify  themselves  for  sitting  in  the  Senate, 
and  giving  laws  to  the  land,  in  concert  with  their  country, 
men,  instead  of  being  the  continual  objects  of  penal 
statutes. 

It  is  that  they  are  diametrically  the  reverse  of  what  they 
are  represented.  Their  religion  forbids  them  to  sport  with 
the  awful  name  of  the  Divinity.  They  do  not  choose  to 
impose  on  their  neighbours  or  themselves  by  perjury. 
Were  it  otherwise — were  their  consciences  of  a  more  duc- 
tile texture,  in  three  weeks  or  a  month's  time  they  would 
all  read  their  recantations,  and  be  on  a  level  with  the  rest  of 
their  fellow  subjects.  Yet  the  archives  of  national  justice 
can  prove,  that  the  Catholics  of  Ireland,  reduced  to  the  neces- 
sity of  discovering  against  themselves,  preferred  the  loss 
of  their  estates  to  the  guilt  of  perjury,  when  a  false  oath 
could  have  secured  them  in  their  property.  Notwith- 
standing this  imputed  creed,  they  prefer  the  smarting  af- 
flictions of  the  body  to  the  stinging  remorses  of  the  soul : 
and  when  worldly  prosperities  stand  in  competition  with 
conscience,  they  rather  choose  to  be  its  martyrs  than  exe- 
cutioners. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be,  &c. 


ARTHUR  O'LEARY. 


JVo.  46,  Half-moon  Street,  Piccadilly. 
June  30,  1800. 


Princeton  Ttieologic 


1 1012  01073  6223 


